Gone
by evgrrl09
Summary: When his daughter is taken by a vicious unsub, Derek and the BAU must race against the clock to find her. Along the way, they stumble upon information that may lead them to discovering what happened to Penelope, who disappeared without a trace seventeen years before. Morgan/Garcia. This story contains violent themes.
1. Mystery Text

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**A/N: So, I've got a new story. A warning on this one: it is VERY dark. This is going to be one of the worst unsubs I've done. There's also going to be trigger-warnings on the chapters that contain more violent themes. This story is rated M, but not because of sexual content necessarily.**

**A/N 2: Due to the timeline of this story, and the fact it spans over many years, many things about the beginning of the BAU have changed. Such changes include: Gideon and left before Garcia was recruited; Penelope and Derek got together much, much sooner with no Lynch in the way; and ages of certain team members were backed up to fit the purpose of this. Certain events may have not happened either (you'll all see which one as you read). This is to clear up any possible confusion if I reference something about the past.**

"Baby, did you finish the college applications last night?" Derek called from his kitchen as he poured his coffee into a travel mug. "I'd rather we not have to pay the late fees just so you can get into Princeton."

"I never applied to Princeton, Father dear." Seventeen year old, Elia entered the kitchen, her backpack swung over her shoulder. "Yale, yes. Princeton, no."

He shot her a wounded look. "Georgetown?" He wanted his daughter close by. The thought of her moving so far away filled him with a sense of terror he could hardly bear.

Since he'd lost…Even thinking it was too painful.

Elia shot him a sympathetic look. "Yes, Dad," she explained. "I applied to Georgetown."

"You know your Aunt JJ went there," he pointed out.

"Well aware," Elia said. "She wrote me a letter of recommendation. I also called Aunt Alex up in Boston, so I'm thinking that will be helpful, too." She smiled, her eyes lighting up. "The grades won't hurt either."

Derek smiled back at her, haunted by her smile. It was so similar to her mother's, just like everything else about her. Her personality, her appearance. Everything about her screamed she was Penelope Garcia-Morgan's daughter. Except for maybe her fashion decisions; her clothing was significantly more muted than Penelope's had been.

_If only Penelope were here to see her, _he thought mournfully. _She'd be so proud._

"Your mother would be very proud of you," he told her after a moment, voicing his thoughts.

Elia's face softened. "I'm sure you're right," she murmured. "I wish I would know."

Derek sipped his coffee, looking down at the floor. He was fighting the demons raging inside him, ones that attempted to break through the iron barriers he'd built to try and fight the agony of his grief. Problem was, there were thousands of cracks in those walls. Memories seeped in when he least expected them, kicking him in the gut to the point he wanted to buckle over.

Elia observed her father's extended silence and remained silent. She knew her father mourned every day of his life for the mother she herself had known for only six months. Although her father was her best friend, there was something missing in him, a hole she didn't know would ever be filled. He went on dates occasionally, but Elia knew and saw the relationship never lasted more than a month.

The fact he wore his wedding ring around his neck hidden beneath his shirt probably didn't help his luck with women.

"Your dad will never be the same again," her Aunt JJ once told her. "The day your mother disappeared, he became an entirely different person. Part of him died that day."

Shaking his head, he pushed everything to the back of his mind and looked at his watch. "Oh, look at the time," he grumbled. "C'mon. I gotta get you to school and get to the office. Sounds like we've got a case coming up. Multiple homicide in Florida."

She winced. "That's never a good place for a murder," she muttered. "And Florida's not exactly the greatest place on Earth. After all the fuck ups with the election in 2000…"

He rolled his eyes, and they started for the door. "First of all, watch the language, and second, you weren't even _born _then. I don't know why you care about an election that had no effect on you."

It was a bright and sunny day when they exited the house. There were puffy white clouds in the sky, and a slight breeze was floating in the air.

"Dad, if I want to go into poly-sci, I need to know about this stuff," she pointed out. "And it _did _affect me. Stuff from presidents tends to have an effect on future generations. That's why they're the leaders of —"

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Derek shook his head. "Yeah, I don't really want a history lesson, hon," he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Save it for class."

She snickered. "Fine then," she said. "But at some point you have to listen to me. I won't let it go."

"Yeah," he said, opening his side of the SUV. "I know you won't." _Another way you're just like your mother, _he added silently in his head. He turned the engine on and backed out of the driveway.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Elia's high school. She looked outside at the bustling sidewalk with that would lead her to the building. Students were already entering the building or hanging out outside, waiting before school began.

Elia turned to look at her father and held up her fist. He made a fist of his own and bumped it with hers. "You good?" she asked, arching a brow.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll probably be gone tonight for that case. But if you need anything, give Kevin a call."

"How are you still friends with Kevin if you scared him off of being the technical analyst for the team?" Elia asked with a laugh.

Derek snorted. "We didn't become friends until later on," he said. "But if you remember correctly, according to _you_, I've apparently scared off every other one we've had." It was true, though; Derek had managed to scare off every technical analyst they'd had for a long time. They all ended up dashing off after only a few months.

"That's because you're a scary guy," she teased. Sighing, she unbuckled her seatbelt and put her hand on the knob. "I'll talk to you tonight, Dad."

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Yeah." He smiled. I love you, El," he murmured.

She nodded and flashed him a grin so like Penelope's. "Love you, too." Then she was gone, out the door and disappearing into the crowd of students.

XXXXX

"Morning, Morgan," Reid said as Derek stepped off the elevator. "Weekend alright?"

Derek sipped his travel mug. "Yup," he replied. "Nothing major. El and I went to the art fair, and she filled out the rest of her college applications. What about you?" He gave him a wry grin. "Spend any time with the kiddos?"

"Maeve wanted to take the kids to the park, and while I ended up reading aloud to them, I drew in a whole crowd," Reid laughed, adjusting his messenger bag on his shoulder.

Derek arched a brow. "What exactly were you reading?" he asked.

"Camus' _The Plague_," Reid replied.

"You were reading Albert Camus to your ten year old and eight year old?" Derek asked in surprise as they walked through the door to the bullpen.

Reid nodded as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "Oh, yes," he said. "I wanted to do _The Stranger _to get them interested in existentialism, but they wanted to hear about an epidemic, so I went with this one."

"Kid, you confuse the hell out of me," Derek laughed, cracking a smile. "But if the kids like it, more power to you."

Reid just grinned. "Just wait 'til I get them into Voltaire."

As they entered the bullpen, they found Rossi leaning against JJ's desk, his arms crossed over his chest. They were chatting about something, but they looked up and nodded to Reid and Morgan as they approached.

"Hey, guys," Reid said, setting his things down at his own desk. "Good weekends?"

JJ grinned and held up her phone to show them a photo. "Liz's team won the soccer game," she said proudly, presenting a photo of her daughter holding a soccer ball. "She scored two goals. More than anyone in the whole game."

"Congrats to her," Derek said, sticking his hands in his pockets. "She's getting good, isn't she?" He smiled.

"Just like her mom," JJ stated proudly, setting her phone back down. She leaned back in her chair and jerked her thumb in the direction of Dave. "This one spent the weekend planning what he's going to do for his first month of retirement."

Rossi was getting ready for permanent retirement soon. His last few months had been spent working strictly from Quantico, consulting on cases rather than accompanying the team.

"An entire month somewhere warm, a Cuban stuck between my lips, and a glass of scotch in my hand while I'm staring at some vast expanse of ocean," Rossi said, spreading his hand in front of him, a content expression on his face. "Gonna live the good life."

Before they could continue, Hotch's head was stuck through the door to the round table room and motioned for them to join him. "Time to get started with the briefing," he called.

Rossi nodded to them. "I've got a few case files to look at," he sighed. "Good luck with the case, guys. And if you happen to need a consultant, you know my number."

Reid, JJ, and Morgan nodded to him before going to join Hotch in the briefing room. "Elia was joking about Florida this morning when I mentioned that's where we're headed," Derek chuckled as they started for the door. "I swear the girl is going to dominate any political science class she takes."

"Well, she's persistent, that's for sure," JJ said fondly of her goddaughter.

They entered the room and took their seats. At the head of the room, readying the screen with the case information, was Supervisory Special Agent Jacqueline Sanders. After Alex Blake left several years ago, a variety different agents had come and gone as her replacement; Sanders was the most recent recruit, having been with the team for almost two years now. She was serving as their liaison.

"We've got a bad one," she said, jumping right into the case details.

As they listened to the brief facts and evidence they had, mentioning theories that might be starting points to work with, Derek's phone buzzed on the table in front of him. Briefly he glanced at it. He frowned at the sender.

One message from Kevin Lynch.

_Found something interesting. Find me ASAP._

He quickly sent back a text, affirming he would be there as soon as the briefing was done. He went back to paying attention to the case at hand, granted he was slightly distracted. Lynch texted him every once in awhile, but rarely did he use _ASAP _to describe what he had.

"We've got to get down there immediately," Hotch said grimly, closing his tablet case. "With the rate this unsub is accelerating, we've got limited time before he strikes again. Wheels up in thirty."

As everyone began collecting their things, Hotch turned to Morgan. "Everything okay?" he asked. "You look a little…tense after that text you got."

Derek furrowed his brow, feigning nonchalance. "Oh, it's nothing," he lied. "Elia just sent me a text about something."

Hotch arched a brow, but didn't argue. "Alright," he said. "I'll see you on the jet."

Derek nodded, waiting for his boss to exit before sneaking out the back door of the round table room. He headed down the hall, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one on his team saw where he was going. He didn't want any of them to know what he was working on. Usually he wasn't in to secret projects, particularly ones that he had to keep secret from his daughter, but this was one he needed to keep under wraps.

There was only one person who knew what he was truly doing. He was an unlikely ally, but an ally to Morgan nonetheless.

When he reached the office of Kevin Lynch, he rapped sharply on the door until the door opened to reveal the technical analyst. Over the years, the other man's hair had gone gray and he'd gained a small bit of girth, but he'd also married Gina Sharp.

Appearance and marital status weren't the only thing that were changed. The man who'd once had a crush on Derek's wife was now a friend who he was able to confide in.

"Lynch," Derek greeted him, nodding his head. "What have you got?"

Kevin moved out of the way and gestured for Derek to come in. "Something you'll be interested in, I think," he explained. "I just found it early this morning, but I wanted to keep digging and make sure it has some merit before I let you know."

"Let's get through it as quick as possible then," Derek said, anxious to hear the information Lynch had for him. "I've got wheels up in thirty, and I don't want the team to know I'm stopping by." He was on edge now, a deep desire to hear anything and everything Lynch had to tell him.

Nodding, Lynch shut the door behind them before beginning his explanation on his findings.

**Let me know what you guys think Derek and Kevin are looking into. I'd love to hear your thoughts :)**


	2. Cold Case

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thank you very much for the reviews and follows! I appreciate you giving it a shot :) If you wanna let me know what you think happened to Penelope, leave a review…I love hearing from you guys!**

**Quick reminder: The timeline works differently in this story, so Kevin and Penelope have NOT dated in the past.**

_**16 Years Ago…**_

_Kevin shouldered his messenger bag and made his way down the hallway after a long day of working with the BAU. The team of serial killer hunters had finally found a permanent technical analyst to replace Penelope, so his stint with them was over. After nothing but twelve straight months of looking into psychos, he was ready to get back to data collection and surveillance. He was also more than a little ready to quit dealing with Derek Morgan._

_Since the disappearance of his wife and the announcement that the case was completely cold, Morgan lashed out at everyone. Kevin had become the latest target of his rage, having taken Penelope's old job._

_Suffice to say, Kevin was ready to be done and not on the menu for getting chewed out._

_As he was walking down the hall in the direction of the elevator, he heard a loud bang from a room up ahead. Halting abruptly, Kevin looked around to see if anyone else had heard it. Unsurprisingly, no one appeared; it was almost midnight and most of the team had been gone since nine when they'd arrived home from their latest case. When he heard it again, he rushed up ahead and skidded to a stop in front of the room where the noise was centered in._

_Agent Derek Morgan's office._

_At first, Kevin was hesitant to enter, but when he heard a much louder one, he forced himself to gain the balls and go in. How scary could the man be? Kevin wasn't working in Penelope's position anymore, so he should be safe._

_Knocking twice, he opened the door without waiting for an answer. He couldn't believe what he saw when he entered. Across the room from the door was Morgan. He was facing it, and he was pulling his fist back from the wall._

_In the plaster was a large, gaping whole._

_The much larger man spun around when Kevin opened the door. His eyes were blood-shot, and he was sporting a five o'clock shadow that had to be a week old. The smell of whiskey was thick in the air. The sight left Kevin speechless._

"_What do you want, Lynch?" Morgan grunted, his voice slurring. He stumbled away from the wall and towards his desk. Picking up the glass on the tabletop, he threw back the rest of the whiskey._

"_Agent Morgan, what the hell is going on here?" Kevin blurted. "Why aren't you home? The team's been gone for a week. Don't you want to see Elia?"_

_Morgan gave a dark laugh. Slamming the glass back onto the desk, he grumbled, "My sister is in town with Elia. I needed a drink." He spun around, trying to find the bottle of whiskey he'd been drinking from; he was so buzzed he couldn't see that it was right in front of him, just a bit further up on the desk._

_Sighing, Kevin set his bag down and shut the door. "Agent Morgan, come on," he said, going forward toward Derek. He took his arm firmly and motioned for him to sit on the office sofa. Morgan was too inebriated to care and allowed Kevin to push him down. Kevin sat next to him while he pulled out his phone._

"_Can you tell me your sister's number? Or a number of someone to come to pick you up?" he asked. But he received no answer from Morgan. The other man had put his head in his hands, and his shoulders were shaking._

_He was crying._

_Kevin went silent. He set his phone down and folded his hands, staring at the floor in the process. He had no idea how to comfort someone who was sad, much less about how to console a grieving man whose wife was gone, likely for good. Coughing, he put one hand on Morgan's back and patted it awkwardly._

"_Um…." he stuttered._

"_I don't know what to do, man," Morgan rambled. "I don't know. Elia's just started walking, and I want to be thrilled, but it's like I'm only half thrilled. Her mother is…missing! I don't have any idea how I can do this by myself." He took a deep breath. "I just need to know how to find her."_

_Kevin glanced sideways at Morgan's face that was stained with tears. Clearing his throat, he said, "Morgan, what if she's, uh, _gone_?"_

_Derek's face was fierce and full of rage as he whirled his face to look at Kevin, but he made no movement. "She's _not _dead!" he roared. "I would know if she's dead….I would feel….something."_

_Words weren't Kevin's strong suit. He preferred the cyber-world of his computers where he didn't have to worry about body language or tone of voice or reading someone's behavior. It was simpler there. But seeing the man next to him, who never showed weakness, letting his emotions unravel sparked sympathy in him. Penelope, despite never reciprocating his romantic interest, had always been very kind to him. He'd considered her a friend. Seeing Derek so broken over her loss made Kevin feel…sad._

"_I…" What he was about to suggest went against about twenty different bureau regulations. He wasn't technically supposed to follow cases that had nothing to do with cases he was charged with researching. "I can help you," he finally said. "I can search for her while you're away or with Elia or….I can help find Penelope."_

_Derek stopped for a moment and turned to look at Kevin. He looked utterly confused. "You would do that?"_

"_I won't stop until I find something to give you closure," Kevin promised, wondering if he would be able to deliver on any part of his promise._

XXXXX

_**Present Day**_

"What did you come up with, Lynch?" Derek asked as he leaned against the table opposite Kevin's desk. "Anything solid?"

Kevin sat down in his chair and slid back to his computer, clicking a few buttons before turning back around. "Alright, as you know, every sweep I do I put in the same search parameters and do a sweep of the country."

Derek nodded. "Yeah, you've told me before," he said. "Usually we don't get anything with them." He crossed his arms over his chest and arched a brow to Lynch. "What did they bring up?"

A dark look of sympathy clouded Kevin's face. "Listen, Derek," he began cautiously. "This…"

Derek's jaw hardened. "Tell me."

Sighing, Kevin nodded and motioned for Derek to come forward and see his computer screen. He pointed. "My search pinged when this happened. Around four this morning, a Jane Doe was checked into St. Thomas Hospital in Vermont. Her description fits Penelope's pretty closely, aside from the fact she's extremely malnourished."

Blood running cold, Derek looked at the screen. His eyes scanned the information, but there was no photo. "No pictures?" he asked, frustrated.

"Unfortunately no," Kevin explained. "But Derek, there's something else. This woman…" He was silent for a long moment.

"Spit it out, Lynch," Derek growled.

Looking up at his face, Kevin grimaced. "Morgan, this woman…she died an hour after they brought her in." When Derek didn't say anything, he went on. "I'm going to call soon to get a confirmation on a few things. They'll have her blood type and other things that might be able to give us answers."

With hard eyes, Derek gritted his teeth and ordered, "The second you find out anything about this woman, you call me. Don't fuck around, Lynch. I gotta know." At first, Kevin did not respond. He looked down at his hands, his lip caught between his teeth. Uncomfortably, he adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Derek rolled his eyes. "What? You're obviously nervous to tell me something else, so just spit it out."

"Derek," Kevin began, "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but…it's been seventeen years. That's almost two decades."

"Where are you going with this, Lynch?" Derek asked hardly, glaring at him.

Looking at him square in the eye, Kevin sighed. "I consider you a friend, and I _think_ you consider me a friend, so I'm just going to say this," he said, treading carefully with his next words. "We may need to look at…stopping this."

Derek merely blinked at him.

When he received no response from Derek, Kevin went on. "What I'm trying to say is, it's been almost twenty years, and we still haven't found her," he said. "We run through search after search, and nothing comes up. Because you're my friend, I don't want to see you be miserable for another twenty years. I mean, Elia's _graduating _this year, dude." He sighed. "I'm not going to tell you to move on by dating someone — I know you won't. Just don't live the rest of your life with only half your heart in it."

"You promised me you wouldn't stop looking until we found something for closure," Derek said. "We're going to keep looking."

Kevin rubbed his face. "Derek, I —"

"I can't and _won't_ move on!" Derek snapped. "Penelope is out there somewhere, and while everyone else has given up on her, I won't! The only way I'm giving up is if we find something that confirms she's gone, or if I stop breathing." After speaking with more passion than he had in years, Derek felt out of breath, as if he'd just run a marathon the entire way uphill.

Rubbing his face, he shook his head. He knew he shouldn't be hollering at the one person who was helping him. He could hardly believe he had made such an outburst after so many years of staying silent. "I'm sorry, Lynch," he apologized. "I know you've put a lot on the line for me by helping me with this. I…I just can't give up."

Kevin nodded. "Just don't kill yourself in the process," he said. "You've got a daughter who really loves you, and if anything happened you it would destroy her." He smiled sympathetically.

Derek's mind went to Elia. For once since he'd walked into Lynch's office, he felt better. Nodding, he put his hands in his pockets and started for the door. "I've got to get to the airport," he mumbled. "Let me know if you hear anything…please."

"Sure thing," Kevin said as Derek opened the door and left, hope filling his chest.

XXXXX

Elia Morgan had one of the more solid relationships with her father that any daughter could have. He was and always would be her best friend. There very little she did not tell him about. Lying to him felt like the worst crime in the world, like she was worse than any unsub he and the BAU had ever hunted down. Those feelings of guilt tended to flare up when her friends wanted to do something any parent, not just one as protective as Derek Morgan, would find questionable.

Naturally, the moment her friend, Sarah mentioned a weekend of playing hooky in the future, Elia became tense.

"El, you will not _believe_ what just happened!" she cried excitedly, hurrying up to Elia as she was standing at her locker.

Snorting, Elia glanced at Sarah and arched a brow. "Oh, really?" she mused. "What the hell could have happened at this lovely establishment that I wouldn't be able to believe?" She grinned cheekily at her friend.

"Kyle invited us to go with him and a bunch of other people on a road trip to New York with him!" Sarah exclaimed, clapping her hands gleefully. "It's the weekend after this one, and we're all gonna share a hotel room so we don't have to pay a ton of money for it!"

The amused spirit left Elia as if it were speeding off down a highway. Her lips pursed, and she scratched the back of her neck. There was no way Derek would say yes to this.

Sarah sensed her silence and grasped her arm tightly. "Oh, no, no, no!" she said, wagging her finger at Elia. "No, you are _so _not letting your overprotective, uptight, gun-toting dad get in the way of this! I won't let him ruin your fun!"

"He's not uptight," Elia muttered as Sarah led her arm-in-arm down the hall.

"Oh, yes he is!" Sarah replied in a sing-song voice. "Do you remember my fifteenth birthday? You know, when I wanted all of us to go into DC _sans _parental units?"

Elia was silent. She did indeed remember that birthday party two years before. Sarah had invited their entire group of friends to go into the city, but because it was in the evening, Derek had not wanted her to go. It was one of the only true fights she and her father had ever gotten into.

"Your silence tells it all," Sarah laughed before continuing. "Anyway, we're going to have this work. You just tell your daddy dearest you're coming over to my house for a weekend of studying and lounging in our PJs eating ice cream."

"I can't do that," Elia protested. "I can't lie to my dad."

Rolling her eyes, Sarah nudged Elia in the ribs gently. "El, you can't _live _like this," she groaned. "You can't let him control your life. What's next, sending you to a college close to home solely so he can keep an eye on you?"

"He wouldn't do that," Elia mumbled, averting her eyes. "He's just…" Her voice trailed off. How was she supposed to put this in words Sarah might understand? How could she tell her friend that the reason lay solely in the fact Derek missed her mother? She didn't talk about her mother much with any of her friends because she didn't know anything to even start a conversation. But there was no other reason her dad was the way he was.

No matter how close she and Sarah were, there was no way she could talk about her mother with her.

"He just needs a girlfriend, maybe?" Sarah interjected.

_He'll never be with someone else, _Elia thought to herself.

"Sarah," she finally said, "I really don't think anyone could understand why my dad is the way he is, but I can for sure tell you it isn't because he needs a girlfriend. Hell, he doesn't want one." She didn't feel the need to go into the facts behind it.

Sighing, Sarah tossed her head back with a dramatic arch. "Oh, fine!" she teased. "But if he decides he wants a girlfriend, Sasha's mom is looking for someone after that divorce…" She wiggled her brows and smirked.

Elia shrugged, but internally she was bothered. Sarah didn't mean to be insensitive. She was too impulsive to be intentionally cruel. But that didn't mean Elia wanted to dwell on the subject.

"I'll ask him," she finished, smiling tightly as Sarah prattled on with more excitement about the prospect of possibly going to New York City.


	3. Still Looking

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 3 of this. I appreciate the reviews so much and would love to hear more of what you guys think. Please review if you have a moment….I desperately need the feedback!**

Derek entered his house after a four day case. It was eleven in the evening, and he was dog-tired, feeling completely drained after four grueling days with what felt like a few mere winks of sleep. Hotch managed to get them a two day break before returning to the office. He hung his worn leather jacket on the hook by the door and walked into the barely-used dining room to drop his briefcase. It was now just a room where he put his bag at the end of the day and kept his alcohol.

Penelope was the one who used this room, not him.

Rubbing his face, he went to his liquor cabinet and removed a bottle of aged scotch. He poured himself a glass and took a sip, closing his eyes as the smooth alcohol burned its way down his throat. Lynch had texted him once to let him know he was still trying to get information on the woman in Vermont. Despite the insistent searching, though, Derek wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be nothing.

Seventeen years had given him every definition of the word nothing.

Heaving a deep sigh, he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out his badge. Behind his badge he kept a photograph of Penelope. He liked to think it brought him luck, but he didn't believe in something like that. If luck truly existed, he would have remained the luckiest man in the world, his wife alongside him and his daughter knowing the woman she was so akin to.

He touched the worn photograph lightly and studied his wife's face. She was smiling radiantly, sunlight shining off her honey blonde hair. Even though it had been almost two decades since he'd heard her voice, seen her flushed rosy cheeks, or held her soft body in his arms, he remembered every inch of her face. It haunted him constantly, hiding behind his eyelids every time he blinked.

"Dad?"

Derek's head snapped upwards. Elia was standing in the doorway, clad in an enormous sweatshirt and her hair pulled up on the top of her head. Quickly, he slid the photograph of Penelope back into his badge and pocketed it. Smiling, he downed the rest of his drink and went forward to hug his daughter.

"Hi, Baby," he said, kissing her forehead. He glanced at the clock again, shocked to see it was already eleven forty five. Had he really been staring at the picture of Penelope for nearly an hour without moving? Shaking his head, he looked back at Elia and frowned. "I thought you would be in bed."

She shook her head. "Nope," she said. "I almost didn't know you were home, though. You were awfully quiet coming in." Giving him a strange look, she added, "How long have you been in here?"

Smiling tightly, he shrugged. "Eh, only about ten minutes," he lied. He didn't like lying to Elia, but he didn't want her concerned for his sanity for staring at a photograph with no realization of the fact time had completely escaped him.

"Uh-huh," she said skeptically. However, she didn't push the subject. Instead, she nodded towards his empty glass. "Have you had anything to eat other than _that_?"

Eyes flicking towards the glass on the table, he chuckled. "I suppose you're about to tell me I need to eat something whether I want to or not."

She rolled her eyes. "_Dad_!" she grumbled. Pointing her finger towards the kitchen, she pushed him in the direction. "Food. Now."

Knowing there was no arguing with Elia when she was persistent, he went towards the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking for something to eat. In it was a box of pizza Elia must have ordered while he was gone. He opened the box and took a slice out, not caring that it was cold. At this point he just wanted to appease his daughter, who had perched herself on one of the counter seats.

Arching a brow, he observed her. She seemed nervous about something. "Got something on your mind?" he asked, biting into his pizza.

Elia was silent a moment, but her eyes flicked to his. "I…I have a question for you," she said hesitantly.

"Oh?"

She nodded. "It's — I'm…."

"Elia, what's going on?" he asked, concerned. Rarely was she at a loss for words like this. "Is something wrong you need to talk to me about?"

She clamped her mouth shut at first and averted her eyes. After a few moments of silence, she met his gaze again. "I was wondering why you've never dated someone seriously or gotten…remarried," she blurted. There was a hint of caution in her tone when she said the final word. It was as if she knew it was a dirty word to him, but she was still compelled to say it.

Derek's gaze dropped to the counter, and he swallowed hard. He tossed his half-eaten slice of pizza into the trashcan and went to the sink. Turning on the water, he allowed the sound of it to fill his ears as he tried to think of the right way to respond.

"Dad?" Elia pressed as he turned off the sink.

Turning around, he leaned against the counter and looked at the tile of his kitchen. Coughing, he swallowed hard past the lump in his throat. "Why are you asking me about this now?" he managed.

"Genuine curiosity," she replied. "It's just…it's been seventeen years. Shouldn't you, I don't know, try and be happy?"

He was silent for a long few moments. His gaze was trained on the ground because he didn't know if he could look his daughter in the eye without cracking his facade he put on every day. He was extremely careful to never have a breakdown in front of her, but this question made him question if he could keep his composure the way he'd worked so hard to maintain.

Garnering up the courage, he looked her in the eye. Along with her concern was sympathy, and he knew in that moment his daughter pitied him. He didn't blame her; he was more shell than man.

"Because your mother is out there somewhere," he finally answered, allowing what he truly thought to flow from his mouth. "She's out there, and I'm going to find her."

Elia's face broke. "Dad," she murmured. "Is that why you've never gone on dates or even tried to be involved in something other than _my _life or cases? You're _looking _for her?" He nodded once, and she shook her head. "Why would you do that? After all this time, you haven't realized it's never going to happen?"

"Cold cases resurface sometimes," he tried, but his voice was weak as he said it. He was part of the FBI and a former cop. He knew how rare it was to get wind of one that still had a trail buried somewhere in evidence.

"This one _won't_!" she cried. She bowed her head. "Dad, I want to see you happy. _Truly _happy. And that won't happen until you move on…or at the very least accept it."

Derek shook his head. "I'll accept it when I have proof," he said coarsely. "But Baby…don't expect that I'm going to move on. I have never loved any woman but your mother, and that's never changing." He grimaced at her, but inside he felt wounded, heart sore. What had brought on the question?

They were silent for a long time before Elia spoke again. "There is one other thing…"

He sighed. "Okay," he said raggedly.

"So, Sarah told me about something coming up," she began. "And I wanted to talk to you about it."

Derek could only imagine where this would go. His daughter's best friend made him wary. He was hesitant about anything they did together. Sarah was too impulsive, and he worried something might happen to Elia anytime they went out. Tensing up, he rubbed his face. "Oh, this has got to be good," he muttered sarcastically.

Elia shot him a glare, but didn't say anything. "Anyway, a friend of ours —"

"Which one?" he asked immediately.

"Kyle Porter," she replied right in step. Wringing her hands together, she bit her lip. "Anyway, he's getting a group together, and he invited me and Sarah to go with them to New York for the weekend. It's the weekend after this one, and we —"

He held up his hand to stop her from going on. "There's no way," he said firmly. "I don't want you going into New York City without me. You've never been before."

"Dad!" she sputtered. "I wouldn't be by myself! There's gonna be at _least _eight of us!"

"And which ones have _any _common sense? Which ones know how to defend themselves if you get into trouble?"

Her face flushed red. "They're not dumb, Dad," she grumbled. "It's not like we'd be running around in gang territory or hanging with neo-Nazis! Why are you judging them if you don't even know them?"

"If they're all like Sarah, then I'm definitely judging them," he snapped. "I don't trust any of them with you. Teenagers are impulsive as hell. If you got into trouble, I wouldn't depend on any of them to have your back?"

She snorted. "Do you trust anyone with me?"

"I trust the BAU with you," he replied hardly.

"Well, what about me? Don't you trust _me_?" she yelled, jumping down from her chair.

"I trust you, but not the eight and a half million people who live in New York City!" he hollered, rising to his full height. "I'm not going to debate this with you, Elia. You're not going on a trip with them. That city is too dangerous for you to be going to when you haven't been there before." She tried to speak, but he cut her off. "No discussion! I'm not letting you go, and that's all there is to say!"

Elia's hands clenched into fists. Her face filled with rage. "You can't keep doing this to me, Dad!" she spat with venom. "You can't keep _ruining _my chances to be independent because you're afraid something will happen to me! Mom disappeared, but that doesn't mean something is gonna happen to me, too!" She paused for a single second for breath. "And apparently you've been so obsessed with this ridiculous theory that she might still be alive, that you can't give me a chance to prove to you that I can take care of myself. I'm not a kid anymore, and I'm not going to fall off the face of the Earth and show up dead into a ditch somewhere! I didn't say anything to you before about not accepting it, but now I'm going to say it: get over her! Get over her so you can loosen up some, and I can live my life!"

Deafening silence filled the space between them, and Derek couldn't do anything but gape at Elia. He was so stunned he couldn't find it in him to even form a response. Everything inside him turned to ash as he stared at his daughter with hurt. He could barely believe the words had left her mouth.

And from across the room, Elia seemed to be shocked at herself for what she'd said. Covering her mouth with her hand to keep herself from gasping, she dropped her face to hide from him.

"Dad," she choked. "I'm so sorry! I —"

With a ringing in his ears, Derek held up his hand and shook his head. "I need to get some sleep," he mumbled, starting out of the kitchen. "Goodnight Elia."

Elia tried to speak again. "Dad, really I —"

"Goodnight," he repeated, not turning back to face her.

He exited the kitchen in silence, making his way up the stairs to the silence of his bedroom. He shut the door behind him and leaned against it, closing his eyes and trying to breath deeply to stay under control. Elia never gave him any idea she was fed up with him or that he wasn't giving her enough independence. Maybe he was overprotective, but with the job he had, he knew about the dangers that lurked in the shadows everywhere.

However some of her words were ringing in his ears. Was he really so wrapped up in trying to find Penelope that he was wound too tightly?

After a few moments of his mind racing about his fight with Elia, Derek's phone rang. Opening his eyes, he pulled his phone out, praying it wasn't Hotch with the announcement of another case tomorrow.

"Morgan," he answered, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, Morgan." Lynch's nasally voice rang in his ear.

Immediately, Derek perked up. Hopefully Kevin would have information about the woman in Vermont. "Lynch, what do you have on the woman?"

Kevin hesitated before speaking. "It's not Penelope," he said. "The reason it took me so long to get back to you was they were looking for her family, and it took the hospital and police a few days to track them down. They weren't taking calls from me on it." Derek was silent, so Kevin continued, thinking more information might draw his voice out. "Her name was Melanie Johnson, and she was a drug addict. One of her druggie friends dropped her in front of the hospital when she got sick…the doctors suspect something to do with the most recent batch of cocaine she did. There's nothing conclusive yet, though. I looked up a picture of her in my systems once I found her name, but she only has slight similarities to Penelope, blonde hair being one of those few."

Derek's spirit only deflated more. After his conversation with Elia and now this news from Lynch, he didn't know if he could deal with anything more that night. He believed with all his heart Penelope wasn't dead, and he was never going to stop looking, but when each search came back fruitless, it made him feel an overwhelming sense of despair. One day it probably would swallow him whole.

"Okay," he finally muttered. "Thanks for letting me know."

"You gonna be okay, dude?" Kevin asked.

Derek cleared his throat. Kevin asked him that every single time he reported back with bad news. He knew the answer, but he asked anyway. And each time Derek replied with the same lie. "Yeah," he answered. "I'm fine. I'll talk to you later, Lynch."

Without waiting for a goodbye from Kevin, Derek hung up the phone. Downtrodden, he slid against the wall to sit on the floor. Leaning his head back, he stared up at the ceiling and huffed. The desire to see Penelope's face again broke in him, and he pulled his badge out to look at the photo he kept in there.

Holding the photo up, he stared at her familiar face and sighed. "I'm still looking for you, Baby Girl," he whispered. "Someday I'll find you. I promise."


	4. A Chat With Rossi

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here's a new chapter! I hope you'll enjoy these POVs. Thanks so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites. We're getting closer to what happened to Penelope, so hang in there!**

Elia stood in her kitchen, silently gaping at the floor, after her fight with her father. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She could hardly believe what words she had thrown at him in her fit of anger. Even in the mere few past fights they'd had, she'd never gone so far to as to bring up Penelope. Yet just moments ago, she had screamed for him to forget her. Shame coursed through her like a raging river, and she put her face in her hands. How could she do this to him?

Sniffling, she crossed her arms over her chest and headed to the living room to sit on the couch, curling up as small as she could and hugging her knees to her chest.

Even though she felt shame for what she'd said to her father, her frustrations were still there. Until she really thought about it, she hadn't realized how much of her life she'd missed. Derek was always careful with everything she did, even letting her go on school field trips. She loved him more than anyone in the world, but parts of her life were shadowed. He was so overprotective things were missing.

Across the room, she noticed photos on the mantle above the fireplace. Many of them had Penelope in them. When she thought about it now, she should have realized a long time ago the answer to her question. A man who was intent on moving on or finding another woman to be with wouldn't keep photos of his missing wife all over the house for near twenty years.

Derek was always telling her how much like Penelope was. She was full of heart and incredibly kind. Somehow Elia had trouble believing she was anything like her mother, considering how she'd just wounded her father.

Wiping the remainder of her tears from her cheeks, she rose to her feet and padded across the carpet to the fireplace where she picked up the photo of them as a family when Elia was a mere six months old, taken around a week before Penelope had been taken. Elia was in her arms, both of them grinning at the camera while Derek stood behind them, looking at his wife with complete devotion and unadulterated love.

She studied the photo closer and sighed. Her heart rate slowed down, and she began to feel lethargic and exhausted. Derek would never never abandon hope that Penelope was out there, and she was going to have to accept it.

"Sorry, Mom," she whispered, touching her mother's face on the picture.

From that moment forward, Elia vowed to never use her mother for any argument. It would only break Derek's heart even more.

XXXXX

Derek was sitting with his head buried in a case file at the BAU after his two day break. The past few days had been hard for him as he and Elia had barely talked. She had gone to school during the day, and they avoided each other when she was home. It was clear both of them were miserable, but neither seemed to know how to express how they were feeling.

As he was pouring over the case file, distracted by what was going on at home, a knock sounded from his office door. "Come in," he called, absentminded. He didn't even look up.

"You're staring at that case file awfully hard."

Derek finally looked up and found Rossi there, a concerned expression on his face. He entered the room and pulled up a chair to the front of his desk. Leaning back and folding his hands over his chest, he studied Derek's tired face. "You want to tell me what's going on with you right now?" he asked after a moment.

"That obvious?" Derek muttered. He rubbed his face and sat back in his own chair. Exhaustion was weighing him down by now, and his mouth felt like he was chewing on rubber cement.

"Something is so clearly bugging you," Rossi observed. "I'd guess based on how quiet you are that something happened having to do with Elia. Possibly she decided that if she gets into Princeton or Yale, she'll go there versus Georgetown where she could possibly live at home, and you could keep an eye on her?"

Laughing darkly, Derek massaged his temples. "Nah, nothing like that," he said, voice growing quiet.

Rossi nodded, expecting more. "_And_?" he pressed. "What was it then?"

"I…" His voice trailed off while he recalled what Elia had shouted at him. The words telling him to forget Penelope and allow her more independence rang through his ears like an awful screech he couldn't escape. "Elia and I had a huge fight the night we got back from the last case."

Rossi arched a brow. "That's not normal for you, too," he noted. "What was it about?"

Derek was silent. He knew if he told Rossi about what the fight with Elia was about, he would have to explain that he was still looking for Penelope and believed she was there. Averting his eyes, he looked at the photos on his desk of Penelope and Elia and the one of them as a family before his wife had been taken. Would he be able to find anything to get her back?

In the end, he decided he could tell Rossi. What could it hurt? Nothing his team would say would dissuade him from continuing his search.

"She wanted to know why I hadn't gotten remarried or started dating anyone after…" he began, his voice trailing off so he didn't have to say Penelope's name. Rossi's expression urged him on. "…after Penelope disappeared. I told her it was because…because I'm still looking for her. She's still out there, and I'll find her. Elia was upset about it and asked me if I'd move on, but I told her it would happen."

Rossi arched a brow. "That's all? You and your daughter had a huge fight because of that?"

He shook his head. "No, there's more." He heaved a deep sigh and began to relive the events of their fight. "There's a road trip she wants to go on with her friends into New York, and —"

"Ah, I think I know where this is going," Rossi mused, stroking his chin.

Derek shot him a look, but continued on. "I don't know any of those kids except for her friend, Sarah, and I'm not real keen on trusting any of them to make a smart decision about it. Plop them in the middle of a city with almost nine million people, and you've got a recipe for disaster. I told her no, and she went into a tirade about how just because Penelope disappeared didn't mean she was going to be found dead in a ditch somewhere. Somehow that got turned into 'move on and forget about her' so I would stop being so overprotective and smothering her chances at independence."

Rossi sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair. "Morgan, I've got a confession to make," he admitted. "You seemed hesitant to tell this to me because you would have had to admit you were still looking for Penelope. Well, Hotch and I have known for several years that you have been looking for her with Kevin Lynch. You've been doing it for a lot longer than we've known about it, but we figured it out. The two of you disappear into his office sometimes, and there's only one reason I can think of you would befriend him."

"Is there a point to this little talk?" Derek grumbled, looking away uncomfortably. So much for thinking he was being deceptive.

"There wouldn't be a conversation if there wasn't a point," Rossi said. "What I'm trying to get at is that you're going to destroy yourself if you keep looking for her. You've been in this job for long enough to know that seventeen years, it's…it's not likely she's alive." His face softened. "We all miss Penelope, and we know you'll never get over losing her, but Elia may have a point. You're so wrapped up in the possibility of finding Penelope and not losing Elia that you want to keep her close by, even at the expense of her being able to have a normal teenage life."

"Am I really that bad though?" Derek asked, exasperated. "I never thought I was that bad. I tried to —"

Rossi shook his head and sat forward. "No, no, you misunderstand me," he said. "No one thinks you haven't tried to give her as perfect a life as you possibly could. And she loves you very much. She wouldn't break your trust or tell you she wants something different. But she does want to have that freedom that teenagers have, even if she doesn't tell you."

"You think I should let her go on this trip?" Derek asked, slightly wary of what Rossi might say.

"No, not at all," Rossi said. "In fact, that's not something even a normal parent would be comfortable with. But what I'm saying is, maybe giving her a chance to experience something without you. If she wants to go to Princeton or somewhere far away for school, let her. She's a young woman now, and one who's a lot like her mother. She needs to be around people, it's just how she is." Rossi gave him a knowing smile. "I may not know much about kids and teenagers, but I know my goddaughter."

Rubbing his face, Derek nodded reluctantly. "She is a lot like Penelope, isn't she?" he laughed in a mumbled tone. "I…I never thought I would have to do this on my own. Penelope had so much planned for her. I mean, after the complications with the pregnancy and the doctors telling her we weren't going to be able to have any more kids, she devoted everything to Elia. She was going to be the best mom in the world."

Rossi nodded. "I know she would have been," he said. "And you know what she would say to you? She would tell you to be happy and focus only on Elia. She wouldn't want to see you like this."

Sighing, Derek leaned back and took a sip of his coffee. "I'll talk to her," he murmured, his eyes finding his photo of Elia again.

Before either of them could say any more, Sanders poked her head into Derek's office. Her face was concerned. "Morgan, we need you in the round table room. We've got an emergency in New York."

He frowned. "What is it?"

"Ashley Seaver in charge of the Domestic Trafficking Force called us in," she explained. "There's a situation in New York that she needs us on. It's a bad one."

Rising to his feet, Morgan went and clapped Rossi on the shoulder. "Thanks man," he said. "Ya know…for the —"

Rossi held up his hand. "Not a problem. Just think on it."

"I will," he promised. "I'll call El before I leave. Hopefully she'll understand."

XXXXX

_**New York City - The Night Before**_

"_Why did they take me?" Veronica whimpered, tears coursing down her cheeks. The air in the building was freezing, and goosebumps were beginning to rise on her arms. It was dim, and as far as she could tell, she and the rest of them women she was being held with were in a factory building._

_The woman sitting on her knees in front of her using a cloth she had torn from her shirt to wipe her face shook her head. "We never know why they take us," she murmured, wiping under Veronica's eyes. "What's your name, sweetheart?"_

_Veronica stared at the woman and sniffled. "Veronica," she whispered. She studied the woman who was looking at her kindly, even though they were in this dank and dreary place. She coughed. "How long have you been here?"_

_The woman in front of her looked down as she folded the cloth and went to Veronica's other cheek. "Too long," she whispered hoarsely._

_Veronica grasped the woman's wrist and forced her to look at her. "I can't be here! I have a family…my parents, they're probably looking for me! I'm only sixteen!" The woman's face softened with pity. There was something she didn't want to tell her, but Veronica wanted to know. "Tell me! What won't you say?"_

_Sighing, the woman finished wiping Veronica's tears. "They'll be looking for you, but they won't find you," she murmured. "There were people looking for me, too, but they never found me."_

"_Who did they take you from?"_

_The woman was lost in thought for a moment, and Veronica knew she'd hit a sore spot. "My family," she responded simply. There was a sad, forlorn nature to her body language, one that looked like it had been there for eons. It was so engrained in her eyes that it was a part of who she was. It made Veronica wonder what this woman had been like before she was taken._

_Veronica wanted to ask more, but before she could say anything, there was a rattling at the cage. Her head and the woman's whirled in the direction of the noise. Standing at the gate to the cage, opening the padlock, were two brawny-looking muscle men. Severe expressions were on their faces, and they directed their steely looks to Veronica._

"_You," one of them said, pointing to Veronica. "The boss wants to see you."_

_Whimpering, Veronica backed away to the edge of the cage. She expected the woman who had helped her to do the same, but instead she rose from her knees to stand in front of them. "Leave her alone," she hissed, standing straight in front of them._

_Grunting a laugh, one of them backhanded her, sending her flying into the side of the cage. When she looked up, Veronica saw blood dribbling down from her nose. The woman wiped it away and glared up at them. She was dazed from the knock to the head she'd taken, though, and her gaze was unfocused. They walked over to Veronica and grabbed her by the elbow, pulling her up and ignoring the woman they'd sent flying into the wall._

"_No! Let me go!" Veronica cried, struggling in their grasp. She looked at the woman who had helped her. "Don't let them take me! Please!"_

_The woman tried to rise to her feet, but she stumbled woozily until she fell. Veronica's screams fell on deaf ears, and the last thing she saw before her mouth was clamped shut was the woman's unconscious form sprawled on the concrete ground._


	5. A Very Special Clientele

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thank you for your reviews, favorites, and follows. I very much appreciate it. I hope you like this one; we're getting closer to finding out what happened to Penelope. Hope you're hanging in there :)**

"Thanks for the ride home, Sarah," Elia murmured as her best friend pulled up in front of her house.

As she opened the car door, Sarah whined, "El, _please _think about lying to your dictator dad! We really want you to come with us. _Especially _Kyle." She winked. "He really wants you to come."

Elia rolled her eyes. "Sarah, I'll talk to you later," she muttered, getting out of the car. She wasn't interested in talking to Sarah about her father. She and Derek hadn't talked in two days. It was unusual for them to go that long without speaking, and her friend wouldn't understand at all. She had a poor opinion of Derek anyway, and Elia wasn't in the mood to hear about it.

She may have wanted to go on the trip to New York, but she wasn't interested in listening to Sarah bitching about her father.

"Okay," Sarah drawled, disappointed. "I'll talk to you later. Remember, though: we leave tomorrow!"

Elia shut the car door and trudged up the walkway to her house. What she really wanted was a nap. She was exhausted, and she didn't know why. Possibly it was because of the gray, cloudy day, and it was affecting her mood. As she unlocked the door to the house, she kicked her shoes off and went straight to the kitchen.

"Wonder if we have any Pizza Rolls," she pondered aloud to the empty room as she opened the freezer. Before she could reach her hand into the icebox, her phone rang with a text from her back pocket. She sighed and pulled out her phone. It was a text from her father.

_Got a bad one in NYC…don't know when we'll be back so I wired you money for dinners. I'll call when I can._

Grumbling, she sent a quick response and tossed her phone on the counter. Usually her father called her to tell her about leaving on a case. Since their fight, it looked like they were continuing giving each other a dose of the silent treatment. Deep down though, she was hurting over it, and she knew her father was as well. At some point she was going to call and apologize, but not until she'd formed the words right.

Past experience with not thinking before she spoke was telling enough for why she needed a plan.

As she was pouring herself a glass of water, Elia's mind began to race. She paused. A bad case for her father meant long periods away. She remembered a specific time in which he'd been gone for almost two weeks when she was fourteen. Her Aunt Desiree had had to come stay with her, and when the BAU had returned, they were given a whole week vacation for it. If this case was as bad as that one, she might have the golden opportunity to bend her father's rules.

Sure, he would be in the same city, but New York City was massive. Elia and her friends would be in places like Times Square or at the Empire State Building. It was more than doubtful they would be in the dark alleys or run-down buildings that Derek would be in.

Heart racing at the prospect of doing something she'd never done before, she picked up her phone once more and dialed Sarah's number.

"Hello!" her friend's voice sang out. "Am I speaking to Miss Elia Morgan? Just _moments _after I dropped her off?"

Taking a deep breath, she said, "Hey, Sarah. _So_…count me in for tomorrow."

XXXXX

"What are the details of this one?" JJ asked, leaning back against her seat on the jet. "Did Seaver send over any information for us?"

"Yes," Sanders said. She punched some buttons on her tablet and motioned to all of them to look at their own. "Everyone has a file on their tablets now." Leaning forward, she pressed several buttons on the laptop on the table in between the seats. The screen lit up with the technical analyst's face. Valentina Gregory was the team's most recent technical analyst, and she was a rather reluctant recruit after hearing how most techs were treated by SSA Morgan. "Tina, can you hear us?" Sanders said, looking at the TA.

Gregory nodded. "Loud and clear, comrades," she said, giving a thumbs up. "Let me know what you need." She grinned at everyone in the jet, but she coughed uncomfortably when Derek's jaw clenched and his expression darkened in her direction.

"Just listen for right now," Hotch said. He looked back up at the rest of the team. "We're looking at two victims from last night, and another two from a week ago. They were dropped over jurisdiction lines, and the bodies' conditions are…interesting."

"Are we sure these are connected?" Reid asked skeptically.

Derek arched a brow. "The condition of the bodies make it seem like there's something there," he said as he scrolled through the initial police reports on his tablet. "Three of them are in the same exact condition: extreme signs of torture, rape. There doesn't seem to be a specific signature within the torture itself, but it _is _a sign of sexual sadism." He frowned. "The last victim is what's most interesting and would be the only thing to suggest it isn't a single unsub."

JJ studied the image of the young girl who couldn't have been older than sixteen. "The MO is completely different on her," she pondered. "Her body is essentially spotless except for the slits in her wrists that drained her of blood."

Hotch nodded. "Yes, that's what's most interesting to me," he said. "That and the fact that her hymen is still intact; she's a virgin. The ME still has to finish the report, but she did let the team know that because Seaver wanted anything out of the ordinary immediately."

"So, if she's a virgin, what is she doing with three sexually brutalized women in alleys?" Gregory asked, frowning.

Derek rolled his eyes. "That's what we're trying to figure out," he muttered condescendingly.

Gregory sat back, looking hurt, and kept her mouth shut. Hotch and JJ exchanged annoyed looks with one another at Morgan's behavior. It was getting old; they'd been thinking it for years.

"How can these be connected with such different MOs?" Sanders asked.

Derek frowned. "Well, the location could be something. Despite the lack of signs of sexual sadism, the girl is thrown out like trash, just like the others." He shook his head. "We need to know more about all these women."

"We know something about them," Hotch said. "The three that have been sexually assaulted all have connections to prostitution rings." He sighed. "The teenage girl, though…well, we just need more information on her." He looked at the screen. "Gregory, get me any and all information on that girl. Also look for similar cases of girls drained of blood in the New York area."

"Um, sir, I don't have her name," Gregory said cautiously.

Glaring at the screen, Derek hovered his hand over the off-button on the computer. "That's why you look through the information you have on her and narrow it down based on things like blood type or dental records, _or _you call Seaver's team and see if she's found the girl's name." Without waiting for a response, he slammed the button down, and the screen went black. Grumbling under his breath, he ignored the looks of his team members.

Sanders, who had not known Penelope and what Derek had been like before his wife's disappearance, glared at him. She was also good friends with Gregory. "Why do you have to be so awful to her, Morgan?" she snapped. "She's the best for this job."

Glancing up over his tablet at the communications liaison, Derek observed her with steely eyes. The rest of the team held their breaths as they watched for if Derek was going to snap again. He knew JJ was looking at him with concern — he could feel her eyes watching him carefully — but he merely stared at Sanders. She would never understand the error in her words, and he wanted to holler the facts to her, but it would be pointless.

So instead of confronting her, he merely arched a brow before looking down at his tablet again. "What I'm wondering is why this younger girl was drained of blood, and why was she dumped with a prostitute?"

Reid frowned. "When we get to New York, perhaps I could go to the ME and look at the body?" he asked, turning to look at Hotch. "I want to see if the autopsy has been finished yet on the girl."

Hotch nodded. "That's fine," he said. "I want JJ to go with you. Sanders, you go to the station, while Morgan and I go to the crime scene. The timeline between these kills is a week, so we've got to find them before they kill more."

XXXXX

"Everyone stand up straight!"

Lilith entered the room as Brutus, one of her trusted assistants, was speaking. Her high heels were clicking against the concrete floor, and she adjusted her bracelets on both wrists. Once she was done inspecting her product, she would be going to the opera, and she wanted to be on time. She could finish primping herself while getting work done.

She looked down the line of women, biting her perfectly colored lip in contemplation. All her girls were standing in bare feet, their bodies shivering as they stood in nothing but satin shifts. Most of them kept their eyes down, but even the ones that didn't kept their gazes away from Lilith's.

She was satisfied with that; none of them were good enough to be looking her in the eye.

Walking down the line, Lilith stopped occasionally to study one of her girls. She touched a lock of hair from one of their faces, tilting her chin up to observe her features. Sighing, she caressed the woman's face. "So, so pretty," she sang. "You have some of the bluest eyes I've ever seen! Did your mother pass those down to you? Or maybe your daddy?"

Gulping, the young woman, who was shaking uncontrollably, nodded. "M - my mother," she whimpered. "S-she had bl - blue eyes."

"Well, you got the right genes," Lilith purred, touching her cheek. "What's your name?"

"Sally," the younger woman murmured, looking down at her bare feet.

Lilith giggled. "Such a pretty girl should have a prettier name than _Sally_," she muttered. Reveling in the power she had over the trembling woman, Lilith grabbed Sally's chin roughly and held it in an iron grip. Her blood red nails dug small trenches in the girl's porcelain skin. "It's too…_vanilla _for my clientele. They like their evenings a little more _spicy_."

Sally's eyes went wide. She was scared to death, and Lilith was gleeful at the fear. She fed on it like it was the richest devil's food cake. "What do you — what do you mean? Your clientele?"

Lilith looked at Brutus and both of them shared a laugh. Moving down the line of women, Lilith explained, "Ladies, you are now all a part of a very special society. We service a very specific type of men, and _you_ all are the vessels for their most fantastical desires. There are a few groups like us, but we're the only one in New York City." She paused to smile angelically at the line. "You're some very, _very_ special ladies. All of you are different and have something the men who pay for our particular…goods will love."

She continued down the line, pausing at one woman who was crying softly. Pouting, she touched the crying woman's chin with her index finger and pushed her face up so she could look at her tear stained cheeks. "Oh, why so sad, sweetling?" she whispered.

"Why are you doing this to us?" the woman wept. "What did we ever do to you?"

Lilith laughed, a melodic sound filling the hall with a loud echo. "Why am I doing this?" she trilled. "Because I provide a service."

"What are those men going to do to us?"

Tapping her chin, Lilith snapped her fingers. "You know what? I have someone you should talk to!" She teetered on her high heels to the end of the line and took the arm of the woman there. "Come, come, sweetheart!" She dragged her down the line back to the woman crying and halted. "Here's who you should talk to, my weeping beauty."

The woman who was crying blinked several times and sniffled. "Who is she?"

Lilith smirked and caressed the side of the woman's face, touching her hair. "This is an old pro in my type of business," she murmured proudly. "I purchased her a month ago. She's a little older, but I have men who pay good money for women like her. She's a fighter, never does anything willingly. If you want to know something about what you'll be going through, talk to this beautiful lady."

"Get your hands off of me," the woman growled through gritted teeth.

Lilith laughed once more. Her most recent purchase was a spitfire, something her customers enjoyed greatly, and Lilith herself had to admit she found it rather amusing. "Oh, that's my Pretty Penelope," she crooned. "Always the fighter." Touching Penelope's shoulder, she sighed. "I'm so glad I bought you, darling. You're going to make me so much money."

"Go to hell," Penelope hissed, keeping her eyes glued straight ahead at the wall.

Sighing, Lilith clucked her tongue and glanced at her wristwatch. "Alas, I won't be going to hell," she trilled. "Just the Met for a show." She nodded to Brutus. "Get these ladies out of here. I'm done inspecting them. I have a show to get to." Smiling softly, she blew kisses to all of her girls and started for the door. "Toodle-loo, ladies! Enjoy your evenings!"

Lilith started for the door, not caring that her number one prize was staring after her with a gaze so full of hate it might bring the fury of hell down on all of them.


	6. The Color of Blood

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Sorry about the delay in this chapter! I've been pretty busy. Thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites :) A warning on this chapter: it's going to deal with the darker content I mentioned at the beginning of the story. Please read with caution.**

"When are you going to let up on any technical analyst we have?" Hotch asked as Derek drove down the street in Manhattan.

Derek rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he muttered, flipping the turn signal on. When Hotch shot him a look, he shifted in his seat and clenched his jaw. "They're all incompetent. Whenever we need something done, they all ask the most ridiculous questions. Gregory couldn't even figure out how to track down this victim. If Penel —" He halted in speech. Saying her name would only hurt too much. "She didn't do all she could."

"Are you sure this outburst wasn't because of you fighting with Elia?" Hotch asked.

Huffing, Derek turned another corner onto a oneway street. "Ugh, so I see Rossi paid you a visit before we left," he grumbled.

Hotch nodded. "It's his job to let me know if my team is having any issues that might affect how he's doing his job." He sighed. "When Penelope disappeared, I was surprised at how well you held it together. But if this has to do with Elia, I'm not so sure. So tell me what happened with her."

Rolling his eyes, Derek muttered, "It's just a teenage thing. El wanted to come here this weekend with some kids from school. I told her no, and she started yelling at me to forget her mother so it would loosen me up and she could have fun." His jaw tightened. "Again: teenage stuff."

"Not for you," Hotch pointed out. "For you, to hear your daughter say something like you needing to forget Penelope is more than just 'teenage stuff.' It's something that could destroy you."

"Tell me something I don't know," Derek growled. "Hearing her say that did more than destroy me, Hotch. She never would have said that if she knew anything about her mother. If she knew her at all —" His anger began to boil all over again.

Hotch interrupted him. "But Morgan, she didn't know Penelope. She didn't know her, and you haven't told her enough for her to know how you felt about her."

Derek was quiet for a moment. "Feel," he corrected. "How I _feel_ about Penelope." He fixed his unit chief and friend with a look from the corner of his eye. "Rossi told me you know I've been working with Lynch, so I won't deny it. I don't care if she's been gone for twenty years. It doesn't matter if she's gone for the next twenty years, or the twenty after it. I'll always feel the same way about her."

Before Hotch could respond, Derek pulled up to the police cars and caution tape and parked the SUV. He stepped out of the car and both of them strode towards the blonde agent who'd once worked with their team for a brief period of time. Ashley Seaver was staring down at her crime scene, studying the small section of the alleyway for any clue her eyes might find. She looked up and nodded to them.

"Good to see you both again," she said sticking her hand out to shake theirs. "I appreciate you coming. We're really stumped on this one."

Hotch nodded. "Happy to help, Seaver," he said. "Congratulations are in order for taking lead on the task force, I'd say."

Seaver's brows raised. "Well, filling Andi Swan's shoes is no easy job, but I'm doing my best." She motioned to the scene. "Right before you drove up we got a call on who our Jane Doe was. Her name was Veronica Drake. She's sixteen, comes from a good family on the Upper West Side, straight-A student. This isn't a girl who would be in the human trafficking ring we're looking into."

"Veronica will be our key to finding this ring," Derek chimed in. "She's the complete opposite of all these girls, but the MO is specific enough on her kill that she's no accident. Our tech is looking into any other cases that might be related, but I wouldn't hold your breath on getting anything soon." He started forward through the alley to examine it, looking for anything out of place.

Seaver sighed. "We're fairly positive this ring is one of the worst we've ever come across," she said. "We're not sure exactly sure who they are, but we do know they're sexual sadists. The first two victims were brutalized in extreme ways, highly indicative of sexual sadism."

"This is why it all comes back to Veronica," Derek continued. "She was a virgin, and her body was in no way marred except for the drained blood. Why would they take the time to kill and capture a girl, especially such a high-risk victim? This is too skilled — to _organized —_ an offender for it to be a first timer." He pulled up photos of the bodies from the recent crime scene on his tablet. The photo he scrolled to was one of the dead teenage girl.

As he stared at it, his throat tightened. This girl was only a year younger than his daughter. There were no physical similarities between them, aside from their youth. Yet the photo still caused him to pause. He was unaware if the family had been notified yet, but he knew their life was about to end. If this girl in the alleyway had been Elia, and he was the parent who would be told his daughter was dead, he knew his life should effectively cease.

And as he stared at the photo, all he could think about was what the last words between Veronica Drake and her father might have been.

Hotch stroked his chin. "We're also looking for more than one offender," he said, breaking through Derek's thoughts. "Not just because there's the MO switch between the prostitutes and the girl, but because with all these victims, it's likely members in the ring did this, not just one of them."

"Has anyone informed the family?" Derek mumbled, looking around the dank alleyway.

"What was that, Morgan?" Hotch called.

Derek hadn't even realized he'd walked farther down the alley as he was thinking. He turned back and repeated himself.

Seaver answered his question. "Oh, not yet," she replied. "We didn't find the name out until just a few minutes ago, but your communications liaison will be going with one of my team and an officer at the station to do the notification."

He nodded solemnly. "Good." He continued scanning the alley. As he looked, his eyes caught sight of something on the ground. Frowning, he went towards the brown leather square on the ground. He picked it up. It was a wallet, too nice a wallet to be in this part of town.

"Find something, Morgan?" Hotch asked.

Nodding, Derek glanced at the ID and held it up for his unit chief to see. "Looks like it may be a suspect."

XXXXX

"I'm glad you decided to come, El," Kyle said, turning his head sideways as he was driving down the highway towards New York City.

Elia turned to look at her friend who she was driving with and smiled. Sarah insisted Elia needed to travel with Kyle because he was head over heels for her. So to go forth with her matchmaking, Sarah made every other person pile into the other two cars, allowing Elia to travel solo with Kyle. So far the trip was going smoother than she thought it would. "Well, my dad got called out of town, so I figured I could sneak out," she said, guilt washing over her once more.

Kyle chuckled. "Your dad seems like a hardass," he commented. "I mean, it's like he controls your life."

She bit her lip, not saying anything. Hearing her friends talk about her father without even knowing him was like a knife between her ribs. She loved her friends, but in the end it was Derek who mattered more to her.

"He's like your best friend, though, right?" he asked.

Elia wrung her hands together. "Yeah," she said shyly. "He is. And you're right. He does control things a little closely. Sometimes _too_ closely. But he's my dad; I don't have anyone else." Guilt struck her heart once more as she spoke. God, how could she do this to her father? He would be destroyed if he knew what she was doing. She'd _never _broken his trust like this, not once.

Kyle had always been talkative — it was one of the things she liked most about him — but she never expected this next question to leave his lips. "I've been wanting to ask you about this before, but I never have because…well, this is like the first time we're…." She knew he meant this was the first time they'd been alone for him to ask anything serious. He coughed uncomfortably, and it made her blush. Sarah was right about him liking her. "What happened to your mom?"

"Um…" Elia stammered into silence. How could she answer this question when she herself had no idea? "Well, we don't really know," she finally answered. "She disappeared one day. All we know was her car was found at a grocery store, and the things she had bought were scattered around the car, along with her keys and purse."

Beside her, Kyle reached his hand over and gently took her hand, squeezing it in the process. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "We don't have to talk about it anymore. I…just…sorry."

His hand was warm over hers, and a fierce pink blush spread across her cheeks. She hadn't expected this level of sweetness from him about her mom, but here he was, giving it to her. Leaning her head against the seat, Elia looked over at him once more and smiled. "Thanks," she mumbled.

XXXXX

"Get down there, _beautiful_," Fynn snarled, shoving Penelope down the hallway towards Lilith's personal chamber. Penelope had not been in this particular location long, but based on her short length of time in the cold dark of the building, she would guess it was a former slaughterhouse. It added to the fear of the majority of the women she lived with. Not for her, though. It only drove her desire for revenge.

She'd been swimming in fear for so long it was a part of who she was now, and she used it as fuel for her hatred towards the people who did this to her.

"Move, bitch!" Fynn hollered as she stumbled down the concrete. The brute was just another of Lilith's associates who tormented every woman that came into the ring. He wasn't the same as Brutus, whom Lilith used merely to enforce her iron rule and worked without emotion. Fynn was a breed of his own, emotional torture and wandering eyes his favored weapon.

Clenching her hands into fists, she kept her eyes glued toward the door they were headed towards. "Don't touch me," she said through gritted teeth as his hands started moving downwards.

With a deep chuckle, Fynn dug his nails into her skin and wrapped his left hand around the back of her neck. "Don't fuck with me, darling," he hissed, leaning close to her ear. The scent of his aftershave had the ability to make her gag, and the feel of one of his hands on her hips almost caused her to vomit. More horrible men than she could count had put their hands on her, but something about Fynn was ten times worse.

As they stopped in front of the door, Fynn's hand began crawling lower and Penelope couldn't take it. She whirled around and slashed her nails across his face, leaving four angry crimson trails across his face, nicking his eye. An angry howl left his lips. "I _said_, don't touch me," she spat as he nursed his face.

He looked up at her and removed his hand from his face to reveal her handiwork. There would be a scar there for the rest of his life. A red light of fury simmered in his dark, malicious eyes and before she could duck, his fist connected with her eye. Swirling neon patterns filled her vision as the pain shot through her face. She'd not been hit this hard in a long while, and her stomach churned wildly enough that she forced herself to hold back the bile that rose in her throat.

However, when she looked up at Fynn's triumphant face, she merely laughed. He wasn't winning this.

She had nothing left to lose. She'd already lost everything.

Fynn, seeing he wasn't going to bring tears to Penelope's eyes, growled and opened the doors for her to enter. "Enjoy your time, bitch," he snarled as she entered the room without even a look thrown over her shoulder for him.

As Penelope walked into the room, ignoring the scathing look she was receiving from Fynn, she located Lilith lounging on a love seat, a book open on her lap. Penelope could not deny that Lilith was a beautiful woman. She could only be thirty years of age, and she had a head of shining, thick dark auburn hair that reminded Penelope of the color of blood. Lilith's skin was a creamy marble color, absolutely flawless, and her lips were always painted the color of a dark red wine. The first time her eyes danced to meet Penelope's when she purchased her, Penelope swore her eyes were also crimson.

However when she got over the shock of a young, beautiful woman being behind a human trafficking ring, she realized her eyes were actually a dark amber brown, not unlike Penelope's.

When Lilith's amber eyes met Penelope's in that moment, a bright smile followed. She set her book aside and rose to her feet. "Hello, Penelope," she said, her voice coming out softly, like a melodic lullaby. She strode up to her, her limbs moving smoothly like a dancer's. She reached out her finger and lightly touched her eye that Fynn had struck. Her dark lips pouted, and she sighed. "You're my most unruly girl, Penelope. Did you get into a scrap with one of my boys?"

Penelope merely stared at her.

"That will turn purple, my dear," Lilith murmured, dropping her hand. She strode away to a bar where she began pouring wine from a crystal bottle into two goblets. Picking them up, she took both glasses over and offered one to Penelope. Wordlessly, she refused, causing Lilith to sigh. She set Penelope's untouched glass on the table and returned to her love seat, sipping her wine. Observing Penelope, she motioned for her to sit across from her.

"I'm going to stand," Penelope growled through gritted teeth.

Lilith nodded. "Oh, alright," she purred, sipping her wine again. "Suit yourself. But really dear, you should get comfortable with me. I will not be letting go of you for awhile. Two clients may have already enjoyed your company, but so many more after them will, too. You've already made me a good deal of money, and I expect you'll make me even more."

Penelope didn't respond once more. She couldn't recall the two clients Lilith was talking about; she couldn't even remember a detail of their faces. The drugs Lilith shot her up with beforehand to keep her from harming the precious clients made it impossible for Penelope to remember anything.

"You want to know what makes you so appealing to my particular type of customers?" Lilith murmured, sipping her wine again. "You _fight_. My two friends who had you in your time here so far made requests beforehand that you be knocked out prior to them meeting you, but from what I hear, some of your previous owners have not been as gracious as I have been with you. From what Jack Yolen told me, you almost clawed one of his customer's eyes out."

Gritting her teeth, Penelope tried to focus on her hate rather than the painful memories of what she'd gone through since being taken. She didn't want a rundown of the horrors; they were in her head. She didn't need them in her ears as well.

"I've got lots and lots of people who will enjoy the risk of getting their eye taken out," Lilith continued. "And while I know this will make me money, I want to know _why_. _Why_ do you fight so hard, even after nearly twenty years?" She leaned back in her seat and observed Penelope with a sly smile. She sipped her wine once more. Snapping her fingers, Lilith grinned wickedly. "Let's play a game! I'll _guess_ why you refuse to be a good little girl."

Penelope met Lilith's eyes finally and glared. "You seem to know so much about me already," she snapped. "Is that really fair to call it guessing?"

Rising to her feet, Lilith sipped from her wine glass as she strode forward to study Penelope. "I guess it isn't fair," she murmured as she touched a lock of Penelope's hair. "But we'll play anyway. You're such a little fighter because you have only one person you would ever willingly allow to touch you. There's one single person in the world you want in your bed, and you were taken away from him." She gave Penelope a silky smile that was backed by an air of false sympathy that was begging to be stepped into. "He's your heart and soul, and there is no thought in your mind more terrifying than betraying him."

Something dark and murky started to seep its way into Penelope's body. Tears threatened to burn their way out of her eyes for the first time in a long time. Her cheeks paled. No one who had held her captive over the years had ever mentioned Derek in her presence. They preferred to beat her.

Not Lilith, though; she was smarter than them. Lilith was going for the jugular.

Her baby soft hands cupped Penelope's cheeks. "What was his name?" she whispered.

Penelope didn't answer. She stared at Lilith with hatred in her eyes, no words leaving her lips. Tears stung the back of her eyes, but she managed to keep them in. She hadn't come this far to be destroyed by two minutes of Lilith speaking about her husband.

"Have you considered that he's with another?" Lilith whispered, leaning into Penelope's ear. "You've been gone for so long. Do you think your own child even knows who you are? My research on you before I bought you told me that the ring who took you snatched you from a baby." She blinked innocently. "Was it a little girl, or a little boy?"

Venom filled Penelope's gaze at the mention of her child. Her pulse began to race as she fought to stay in control of her own emotions. She couldn't hold her tears in, though. Her heart was beginning to crack under the weight of hearing this snake in high heels talk about her family, who very well could be going through life under the belief she was dead. Tears fell from her eyes, wetting her cheeks. She didn't know what she would have done if Lilith knew her daughter's name was Elia.

"This is the most emotion you've ever shown since I bought you," Lilith remarked. "I don't suppose your tears mean you'll become a submissive little girl, do they?"

"Never," Penelope spat, her hate seeping back into her veins like floodgates had been broken.

Lilith sighed. "No, I didn't expect they would," she said wistfully, lifting her wine to her lips again. A wicked grin lit her face then. "I'm glad though. It would be a terrible tragedy for me to lose my star."

**Penelope's first POV. I wanted to do a chapter with all Morgan family POVs, so here it is. Please leave a review if you have a moment…I'd love to hear your feedback!**


	7. Busted

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thank you to everyone who has read or reviewed so far! Your encouragement helps me keep writing :)**

"What do you _mean _Nikolai got himself _arrested_?" Lilith hissed to Brutus as he finished telling her what he'd heard through their communication network about their sister ring's body dumper.

Brutus nodded. "I'm afraid so."

Rising to her feet, Lilith strode angrily to the mirror across the room, her long black skirt swishing around her legs as her heels clicked on the concrete. "I cannot _believe _I allowed him to dump one of his bodies with our girl. I understand the importance of dual-dumping to keep law enforcement from getting a good idea of which group is responsible, but this is completely unacceptable. This could open us up to being discovered."

"I understand," he said. "Do you want me to find a way to get rid of our problem when he gets released?"

She looked at her face in the mirror, observing her flawless features. "Yes," she hissed without remorse. "Get rid of him the moment you see him. Now leave me." She waited until her right hand man was gone, all the while staring at her features. Her eyes drifted away to the small jar of red liquid that she valued so much. Unable to restrain herself, she reached for it with her lithe, delicate hand and took the lid off. Dipping her fingers in, she swirled her fingers around before going to the basin of water several feet from her mirror. She washed the liquid off and observed the skin it had been on.

It was younger, more beautiful than before.

Her phone rang with a text, and she picked it out of her skirt's pocket. When she opened the text, a smile spread across her face.

_This one?_

Beneath the words was a photo of a beautiful young girl with mahogany hair and light caramel skin. A smile was covering her face, and something about her looked very familiar. However, she ignored the tingling sense the girl was familiar. Hurriedly, with shaking hands, she responded:

_Virgin?_

_Not sure, but if she isn't, I sure you could use her for something else._

A smile crossed Lilith's face once more.

_Trail her, take her, and bring her to me._

XXXXX

"Aren't you glad you came now?" Sarah teased as she and Elia were walking out of H&M. They headed in the direction of Times Square with their shopping bags, two of their group trailing behind them.

Elia grinned. The energy of New York was infectious, and she was loving everything about it. If she got an acceptance letter from Columbia, she might just have to go there solely because she loved this city. Derek would have something to say about it, and not something good, but she had no doubt she could convince him. "Yeah," she admitted. "I'm really glad I came." She glanced sideways at her best friend. "And yes, I'm glad you orchestrated it so I could come with Kyle. He was really sweet."

Sighing dramatically, Sarah linked her arm with Elia's. "Well, I do have my moments," she boasted. She grinned. "Do you think he'll finally make his move?" She wiggled her eyebrows.

Immediately a scarlet flush covered Elia's face. She looked around the loud streets and bit her lip. "I don't know!" she said. "I, uh…well it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"_El_! You really like him! He really likes _you_!" Sarah exclaimed. "You should totally make the first move if he won't. You're confident enough."

Biting her lip again, Elia nodded reluctantly. "I'll talk to him about it." As they walked along the crowded street, she caught sight of the rest of their group, Kyle included, up ahead at them a hotdog stand. When Kyle looked up from paying, he smiled widely and waved to her. Again, Elia blushed. Sarah nudged her in the side with her elbow, giggling uncontrollably.

"Hey, guys!" Kyle said excitedly.

Elia waved shyly back, but before she could say anything, her phone rang in her packet. Taking it out of her jacket, she checked the caller ID. It was her father. Panicking, she looked around wildly, scanning the crowd for any sign her father was lurking around and had seen her. Paranoia was clearly getting the better of her though. Gulping, she thrust her bag into Sarah's hands and dashed to a store so when she answered the sounds of the busy city would not be heard.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed talk and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?" she said hesitantly. It had been a few days since she'd actually spoken to her father, so she didn't know what his mood would be.

"Hey El," Derek said. His voice was eerily calm, and she was curious as to why.

"Dad? Is everything okay?" she asked hesitantly. Her gut churned at the idea her words were still hurting him. She couldn't expect he would be over them, but she hoped the reason he was being so quiet wasn't what she'd said.

He answered after a second of silent. "Yeah," he said. "I'm fine. I just, uh, I just wanted to call you to let you know this case is really bad. I probably won't be home for…well, I have no idea when I'll be home."

Gut clenching, she croaked, "Before the weekend is over?"

"Oh, no," he answered hastily. "No, we for sure won't be home before then unless the unsub comes into the station on his own and confesses."

She huffed. "I don't imagine that will happen." Both of them were quiet for a long moment. Tears pricked the back of Elia's eyes, and she felt the loneliness of not being able to talk to her father crash down on her once more. "Uh, Dad?" she asked after neither of them said anything.

"Yeah?"

"I…" Her voice trailed off momentarily as she tried to find the right words. "I wanted to tell you I'm sorry. About what I said about…Mom." She said her mother's name with a croak in her voice. "I didn't mean to say that, and I know it was a low blow to bring her into it."

He was silent for a long time. For a moment she thought he was too angry to answer. However, he finally spoke. "I know, honey," he murmured. "And I know you're upset about not being able to go to New York. I just…I worry about you. So, I tell you what. We'll come up here sometime together sometime." Her stomach dropped, and guilt washed through her once more. For the first time since getting to New York, she was feeling an immense sense of regret for her actions. "I know you would rather go with your friends, but New York — especially with this case we're on — isn't safe."

Gulping, Elia said, "Okay, Dad. Be safe please."

"I will," he promised. "I love you, Elia."

"Love you, too," she managed weakly before she hung up. Sticking her phone back in her pocket, she rubbed her face and tried to banish the vicious nausea that was churning in her gut. She hoped she would get through this trip without vomiting. Because the way she was feeling right then, she was bound to get sick at some point with all the guilt washing over her.

XXXXX

"Gregory, what do you have on our suspect from the wallet?" Hotch asked. Hotch and Derek were at the precinct in the conference room with Seaver going over the information they had so far to solve the case. Sanders had gone to visit Veronica Drake's family to inform them of their daughter's death, and JJ and Reid were on their way back from the morgue to report on anything they'd found.

Derek rolled his eyes when Gregory's voice came out hesitantly. Sure he was a little gruff with all the technical analysts that had followed Lynch when he had spent the year with them following Penelope's disappearance, but that didn't mean they had to act like timid church mice.

"Well," she began, "Nikolai Kelinski, age forty eight, has a rather long wrap sheet. He's an immigrant, his parents moved here when he was ten, and he became a citizen when he was seventeen. His list of offenses includes several assaults, there was a rape charge. This one was dropped, though, because the woman who was his girlfriend dropped all charges." She made a disgusted noise. "He was quoted as saying he 'didn't rape the bitch, but the mouth on her deserved it.' Hopefully that puts his opinion on women into perspective for you. And by the looks of it, he's been involved in the sex trade."

Seaver frowned. "What are his connections to the sex trade?" she asked.

"See, this is where it gets a little weird," Gregory continued. "Apparently the NYPD's sex crimes unit went on a raid, and they stumbled upon a rather large sex trafficking ring."

"I heard about that," Seaver said, snapping her fingers. "They found nearly fifty women who were forced into prostitution. The youngest girl was fourteen." She shuddered. "That has to have been four years ago now."

"Yes, well apparently Kelinski was mentioned in the investigation by the men in charge of the ring that they did find," Gregory went on. "They questioned him, but he was eventually cut loose. That ring has since disbanded, and Kelinski hasn't been connected to any group or prostitution charges since."

Seaver snorted. "Figures. It was too close a call for him, so now he's laying low. Is it possible he left it and the wallet was left as a decoy for us?"

Hotch shook his head. "It's doubtful he's given up on the sex trade," he said. "It's an industry that makes between five and nine _billion _US dollars. There's too much money to lose if he left. He's likely just doing better at staying under the radar. That and based on all the charges he's had against him, I'd be willing to say his misogynistic attitude wouldn't let him quit."

Derek frowned. "Any info on how many rings he's been connected to?" he asked.

"Hmm," she said, the sounds of typing filling the background. "It looks like he's been connected to about two other ones before the one he was questioned on. But the connections are working for the companies of men who _did _get convicted for running the sex rings."

"So the question is who's he working for now?" Hotch said.

Huffing, Seaver took a sip of her coffee and rubbed her temples. "They're one hell of a violent group whoever they are," she said.

Hotch nodded. "Gregory, we need everything on him, namely the address he lives at now and all the places he spends his time," he ordered. "Get it to us immediately."

"On it, sir! I've sent what I have on the sicko to your tablets!" Gregory chirped before hanging up.

Hotch looked at his tablet as he scrolled through the information that had just been sent to them. Noticing no one was speaking, he glanced up at Derek over his tablet and arched a brow. "You look like you've got something on your mind, Morgan," he observed.

Derek sighed and looked up at his boss. He shook his head. "I just can't figure out how this all connects," he muttered, leaning forward to pick up his coffee. "Based on everything we've got about Kelinski, his MO only fits for the sexual assault victims. It in no way gives us a clue on Veronica. He would have brutalized her if he had been the one to kill her."

"So you think he wasn't involved?" Seaver asked with doubt.

He shook his head. "No, he at least helped dump them. I'm sure of that. Like Hotch said, it's highly doubtful he would leave the sex trade. So possibly he and some of the members in his ring did this together."

"Still, how does the girl fit into this?" Hotch pondered. "Would this be a sign of remorse for him to treat this girl tenderly? She _is _awfully young."

Derek's jaw locked. Anger flooded through him. Veronica was young, but she wasn't the youngest victim the sex trafficking industry had seen. Just the thought of how anyone in the industry could take any woman made Derek's fists clench in anger, but knowing they took girls who had barely entered puberty made him shake with rage.

Seaver's phone rang, and she looked at it. "Excuse me a moment," she said, rising to her feet and exiting the room.

As soon as Seaver was out of the room, Derek noticed Hotch was observing him a little too closely. He tried to ignore it, and he focussed intently on his rage and depended on it to keep him going on the case. When Seaver still hadn't returned, he looked up Hotch and glared. "What?" he demanded. "You're watching my body language awfully close."

"Because I'm wondering if you're going to be able to think clear enough to do this case properly," Hotch said.

Gritting his teeth, Derek ground out, "What is _that _supposed to mean? You're questioning my ability to profile because I'm angry at what this sick bastard has done to Veronica?"

Hotch crossed his arms over his chest and nodded to him. "And _that_ right there is why I'm questioning your ability to profile," he said. Derek was bewildered and angry, but before he could demand an explanation, Hotch went on. "You keep calling her Veronica. Not once have you called her anything else. We all have a tendency to slip into using their first names, but it's usually followed by a last name; it distances us front them. That or we call them 'the victim.' This one is getting to you, though, because when you look at her face, you're seeing your daughter." He sat down across from him. "It's _that _that has me questioning if you can be objective or not."

"You're on thin ice with me right now, man," Derek growled. "I don't care if you're my boss. Who are you to question my professional —"

"I'm your friend," Hotch said firmly. "And as your friend, I want to make sure you can function without being stricken with fear something will happen to Elia even when she's hundreds of miles away."

Derek was tempted to respond with more snark, but before he could, JJ and Reid entered the room, taking their jackets off. "Our trip to the ME turned up with only one interesting thing," Reid began immediately, not paying attention to the tension permeating in the air. Derek remained glaring at Hotch for a moment, but he eventually went to listening to Reid. There was time later to think on how right Hotch was and how much he didn't want to acknowledge the facts his boss was telling him.

"Well, for one she's a virgin," JJ said.

Hotch nodded. "That's something we already knew," he said. "The ME called Seaver to tell her that as soon as he found out."

Reid sighed. "Well, other than that, there was little information that we didn't already know. Cause of death was exsanguination, her body was unmarred, there were no drugs in her system." He sighed. "So we have nothing helpful. What information do you have to catch us up on?"

"Hopefully something to help," Derek muttered, leaning forward to begin explaining.

XXXXX

Several hours later when six o'clock was nearing, the team was still trying to figure out any information they could. Sanders had returned and was holding reporters at bay. Somehow the details of Veronica Drake's death had been leaked, and Sanders was attempting to keep them from hindering the BAU and Domestic Trafficking Task Force's investigation. However, even after multiple calls to researchers, fact-checking, and evidence searching, there was no information to help with the profile.

"Where the hell is Gregory with that information she promised us would get here so quickly?" Derek grumbled.

JJ looked sideways at him and shot him an irritated look. "Morgan, I swear to God, you're driving me nuts with this crap about Gregory. She's not the best, but she gets the job done."

"She, like _all _of them, is incompetent," he groused, flipping another page of a report done by the NYPD on sex trafficking in the city.

"No, she's not as good as Penelope," JJ said bluntly. With a softer voice, she added, "No one is denying that she was the best, but you have got to let up on these people."

Derek grumbled incoherently under his breath, but he turned another page wordlessly. As he did, JJ's cell phone rang. She answered it with a swift hello. Her face drastically changed after a few moments. "Oh my God! Where?" She nodded. "Okay, thanks!" She hung up and motioned to Derek to rise with her. "We need to get the others now. Gregory did some triangulating on Nikolai Kelinski's cell phone. She has a location."

XXXXX

"I'm telling you, I know nothing about this!" Nikolai Kelinski shouted as Morgan was dragging him toward the SUV.

Giving him a rough shove, Derek pushed him into the back of the car and snarled, "Get in there!" He slammed the door behind the struggling man and glared at him through the tinted windows. With the location Gregory had given them, the BAU, members of Seaver's task force, and officers from the precinct they were set up at had been able to apprehend Kelinski.

"We'll question him when we get back to the station," Hotch said. "I want to have him stew for a little while. We've got time, so give him an hour or so with no information." He glanced at his watch. "In the meantime, I want some food." He fixed his eyes on Morgan knowingly. "JJ and Morgan, go get us all something and bring it back to the station."

"No way, man!" Derek growled through gritted teeth. "I'm taking that bastard back."

Hotch shook his head firmly. It was clear he was still having concerns about Derek's supposed lack of objectivity with this case. "No, I want you to stay away from him for right now. Go with JJ." When Derek stood his ground, Hotch's gaze became stern. "That _is _an order, Morgan."

Clapping a hand on his shoulder, JJ motioned for him to follow her to the SUV they'd driven in. "C'mon, champ. We're gonna get some food and coffee. You look like you need some." Derek glared at Hotch once more, but he followed JJ anyway. "Let's go," she said.

After ten minutes of arguing over what food to get, Derek finally pulled over at a deli and parked in the thirty minutes or less spot right in front of it. "This is what we're getting," he grumbled. "I honestly don't give a shit anymore, just as long as I can get back there and get that bastard to tell us what he knows."

"There is no way Hotch is letting you into the room with him," JJ said with a shake of her head. "You're acting off nothing but anger right now. Putting you in there with Kelinski would be a big mistake." She nodded her thanks to him as he opened the door for her.

He snorted. "I'll make Hotch let me in. No way am I —"

"Oh my God," JJ interrupted, her face paling. "Derek."

Rolling his eyes, he shoved his hand in his pocket to pull out his wallet as they got in line to order. "JJ, there's no need to be so dramatic about it," he muttered. "It's not like —"

She shook her head vigorously. "_Derek_," she repeated, cutting him off once more.

"What?" he snapped. She pointed towards the back of the store, prompting him to turn around finally. When he did, his gut dropped along with his focus on Nikolai Kelinski, Veronica Drake, and all the victims of their unsub.

Sitting in the back of the shop, talking and drinking with her friends, was Elia. Her head was thrown back in a laugh at something the boy sitting next to her was saying. In that moment he didn't know what he felt more of, anger or hurt. He'd spoken to her just this afternoon. Had she been in New York through their whole conversation?

His face turned to stone, and as he was about to stride forward, JJ put a hand on his arm. "Derek," she warned. "Don't make a huge deal about it here."

"Don't make a huge deal about it?" he repeated, seething. "This is a very huge deal! I _forbid_ her from coming up here with those kids!"

She shook her head. "I'm not saying don't make a huge deal about it period," she coaxed. "I'm saying to don't make a huge deal of it in the middle of a shop in New York with all her friends and a bunch of strangers to see it." She gave him a look. "I'm serious. That will only make it worse. Just get her, and we'll leave."

Swallowing the shouts of fury he wanted to spread through the whole of Manhattan, Derek nodded and strode to the back of the shop, attempting to keep himself calm. JJ was right about not making a scene. It _would _only make things worse if he yelled at her in the middle of the store. He just needed to get her and leave so he could yell at her later. Derek had never been much of a yeller when it came to his parenting, but this was a different occasion that seemed to call for it. He would let it out eventually.

"Oh my God, El, tell Kyle about the time your dad —" Elia's best friend, Sarah was saying.

"About the time I did what?" he said in a low voice that startled the whole table. None of them knew his face except for Sarah, and since her and Elia's backs were to him, they didn't know to be concerned when he'd started to the table.

Elia's face drained of blood. The whole table fell dead silent and averted their eyes, but Elia's remained glued to his. He couldn't read her expression very well; it was a melting pot of shock, fear, and guilt. It was difficult to tell which was the most prevalent emotion she was feeling then.

"Dad…" she started. Her voice was small and feeble, edging out just barely to test the degree of his anger.

"Get your things, Elia," he ordered in a low growl. "You're coming with me."

Her eyebrows reached the top of her forehead. "To the station?" she sputtered, bewildered.

"To the station," he confirmed. He was so angry he could have filled the shop with a string of hollered words, but he kept his mouth clamped shut, hoping his iron-stern expression would be enough for her to see he wasn't kidding.

And she didn't think he was. Wordlessly, Elia rose to her feet and slung her bag over her shoulder, keeping her eyes glued to the ground as she followed him through the shop and out the door. All the while Derek remained calm, not saying a single word so he could contemplate what he was going to say when they finally got to the station, and they were able to have a full conversation.

JJ had already started the SUV, food forgotten, and was waiting for them to get in. As Derek yanked the back door open, Elia paused before getting in. "Dad…" she whispered hoarsely, her lips trembling uncontrollably.

"You do _not _want to talk with me right now, Elia," he growled, meeting her eyes fully for the first time so that she could see the extent of his rage. It was coursing through his veins at a vicious speed, and she saw it, her eyes growing wide. She blinked several times. Pointing to the back seat, he nodded. "Get in the car." When she didn't react immediately, he couldn't contain a spontaneous flare of pure anger. "_Now!"_ His roar attracted the attention of people on the street and caused JJ's head to snap in his direction from inside the car.

Tears filling her eyes, Elia did as she was told and allowed him to shut the door behind her. Shaking with rage, Derek got into the passenger seat and nodded to JJ. "Get us back to the station, JJ," he ordered wordlessly, case and unsubs forgotten as he tried to figure out what to do with his rebelling daughter.

**So, Elia's busted. As for Lilith, the story behind her involves a prominent historical figure, considered by some to be one of the more prolific serial killers to live. Leave me a comment if you have a guess on who it is…I'm interested to see who you think I'm comparing her to :)**


	8. Yelling Match

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**New bump in the rough ride…we're getting ready for the off road stuff (sorry about the metaphors haha). Naturally, after the last chapter, we have Derek and Elia POVs for this one. Thank you to all who have reviewed, and I hope you'll like this one.**

Elia was tense as her Aunt JJ pulled up to the precinct and parked in front of it. The whole ride had been dead silent, save for JJ talking on the phone with her Uncle Hotch about something to do with the case they were working on. Every block they drove, Derek was stone silent. She could barely believe the universe had it out for her so bad that her father would walk into the same restaurant as she and her friends. And the look on his face when she first looked up at him was heartbreaking. He looked so betrayed that she thought her heart was going to shatter.

With how bad she felt, she could only imagine how Derek was feeling. He'd been so torn up, he'd even yelled at her.

"Get out of the car," Derek growled as they unbuckled their seat belts.

Wiping her eyes, Elia sniffled. "Dad, I'm —"

"Get out of the car!" he repeated. His voice was loud and sharp, cutting through her eardrums like a knife.

As Elia choked on a cry around the lump in her throat, JJ attempted to step in. "Derek," she warned. "Stop it. You need to calm down."

Turning his attention to JJ, Derek thundered, "Don't even try right now, JJ." He opened the door forcefully and yanked Elia's door open. He pointed to the precinct door, glaring at her with such a ferocity she was shaking uncontrollably in her seat. Sliding out of the car, she crossed her arms over her chest and walked sheepishly to the precinct door, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Derek and JJ followed her inside. Her father breezed past her, and she caught sight of the rest of the BAU team. They looked up at her with confusion, but when Derek reached them, his face of fury seemed to tell them it all. He rumbled something to Hotch, before her uncle nodded.

"Just apologize and smooth things over," JJ told her softly, touching Elia's shoulder. "He'll be mad, but you both need this."

Elia was about to respond to JJ, but Derek's gaze shifted back to her once more, and he strode toward her, pointing to the conference room off to the side. His face was unyielding and hard.

With her head bent forward, Elia entered the room. Files and paper was all over, and a screen with a map of New York was illuminated on the wall. Derek shut the door firmly behind them. He stood on the other side of the table from her, staring at her like she was a stranger to him. Wanting to fix things as quickly as she could, she wiped her cheeks and leapt into speech. "Dad, I can —"

Holding up his hand, Derek cut her off. "Don't even try to talk right now, Elia!" he growled. "I specifically told you _no _on coming here with those kids. We spoke on the phone, and you were here the whole time! The whole damn time! What the hell were you thinking?"

Elia's looked down at the floor. "I just wanted to spend time with my friends," she whispered. "Kyle found us a really good hotel, and we were staying in high traffic areas, and —"

"It doesn't matter! You disobeyed me! I trusted you, and you completely played with that."

Tears filled her eyes and slid down her cheeks. "I'm sorry!" she choked out.

"I don't want to hear you're sorry!" he roared, slamming his fist on the conference table. "You _lied _to me, Elia. You knew I trusted you, and you decided to use that to go and hang out with your half-brained friends."

Never in her life had Elia seen her father so mad. His face was stricken with fury, a thundercloud ready to crash with another to create an earsplitting din. He didn't even seem upset anymore. She stared at him in shock. With a trembling lower lip, she bent her head so her chin nearly touched her sternum. "I just wanted to have some fun with them," she murmured. "I wanted to spend time with Kyle."

"Oh, you wanted to spend time with a boy?" he laughed bitterly. He yanked a file from in front of him and opened it to reveal crime scene photos. Slamming one down in front of her, he added, "Is spending time with a boy in New York worth _this_?"

She covered a gasp with her hand at the photo in front of her. The photo was of a severely beaten and bloodied woman, dead in an alley. It was so horrifying she couldn't even rip her eyes from it. He slammed another one down of a different woman dead in a similar fashion. She began to shake uncontrollably, waves upon waves of nausea rolling through her gut. She shuddered violently at the third photo he threw down of the second woman but from a different angle.

"Is _this _what you want to happen to you?" he growled, gesturing to the photos. "Huh?" When she didn't respond, he dug another photo out of his file. "Or what about this girl? Do you want to end up like her?"

The fourth photo was of a girl the same age as Elia herself. Her face was chalk white, completely colorless, and her wrists were slashed open. Her mouth fell open, and bile rose in her throat. She looked up at her father again, horrified by his spectacle he'd thrown at her.

"This is what is happening to girls," he growled. "They are being _killed_! Do you want to this to end up being how you look?" She didn't say anything. "Huh? Do you?"

"_No_," she croaked, still staring at the pictures.

He slammed his fists on the table again. "Look at me!" he hollered. "Ignore the photos for a minute, and look me in the eye!" Frightened, Elia looked up at her father. Never in her seventeen years had he had so much rage plastered across his face. She wanted to shrink into a ball and disappear into the woodwork. "Why would you come up here if I told you — I _told _you! — not to? You've never done this before."

"That's exactly it!" she cried, a fierce streak of passion boiling up inside her. "I've never done it. I've never rebelled, I've never done anything normal people my age do! I wanted to, but I never did because I was scared of _this_, of disappointing you."

Throwing his hands up in the air, he rolled his eyes. "Believe me, Elia, you've certainly done that now."

"You're suffocating me!" Her hands were clenched into fists now, and she felt her face flushed with blood as she focussed her rage on her father. "I've never been able to do anything without you breathing down my neck."

"Nowhere is safe, and I'm not letting someone hurt you because you want to be a 'normal' teenager," he snapped. "You can get killed like these girls, you can get mugged, hell you can get snatched at the fucking grocery store!"

Rubbing her face, Elia knew the same shit from their previous fight was about to come spewing out. "And here we go again! It's coming back to Mom. You can never get past her even though she's probably dead. Have you been so deprived of any contact with women that you can't get realize that?"

Something flashed across his face that looked strangely like guilt. Just as quickly as it appeared, though, it disappeared. It was replaced by anger. "Your feelings on how I handle dealing with your mother are not what matter right now. What matters is you didn't listen to me. As far as I'm concerned, you're never seeing any of them again, particularly Sarah. That girl is a horrible influence on you, and I'm almost positive you wouldn't have done this if she hadn't pushed you."

"You don't get to blame this on her," Elia spat, her fierce protectiveness of her best friend ripping through her. "I did this because _I _wanted to. I was tired being 'good girl Elia.' I'm going to college in less than a year, and I want to be able to act like it!"

"Lying to your father doesn't seem like a very 'college' thing to do," he shot back.

Shaking with fury, Elia glared at him. Before she could say anymore, a knock sounded from the door and her Uncle Spencer stuck his head in. He coughed uncomfortably. Elia crossed her arms over her chest angrily. She averted her eyes from both her father and uncle. "Um, Morgan," Reid said. "We need you in the interrogation room."

Derek's jaw clenched, and he nodded. "Sure, Reid," he grumbled. "I'll be there in a minute." When Reid nodded and left the room, Derek turned back to Elia with a hard expression. She glared stonily at him, and he returned her expression. "Stay here," he ordered. "Don't leave this room at all."

Narrowing her eyes, Elia nodded sharply. "Fine," she snapped, plopping down in a seat with her arms crossed more tightly over her chest. Her father exited the room, surprisingly shutting the door normally. Elia stared emotionless at the photos her father had slammed in front of her of the brutalized women. Her stomach churned like a melting pot of bile. She could barely believe Derek would show her these.

Angrily she rose to her feet. The walls began to close in on her, and every breath she took was filled with hot air that burned her lungs. She couldn't stay in here like her father told her; she had to have fresh air. Or at least as fresh of air as she could in the middle of Manhattan.

Frustrated, she yanked the door open and stalked out of the precinct, ignoring the looks of the officers who had overheard part or all of her conversation with her father. She pushed the door open to the outside and looked up at the darkened sky, wrapping her arms around herself in the nippy fall air. As she paced back and forth on the sidewalk, she realized she'd broken her promise to herself: the promise she'd made to never use her mother as a weapon in a battle with her father.

XXXXX

Still fuming after his fight with Elia, Derek went to the interrogation room where Hotch and JJ were standing with crossed arms. They were looking into the interrogation room at Nikolai Kelinski through the glass. Seaver was in the room with Kelinski, trying unsuccessfully to get him to talk. Hotch and JJ looked at him as he entered the viewing room.

"How's it going over in here?" Derek asked, rubbing his face tiredly, working desperately to banish the thoughts of his renegade daughter's actions from his mind so he could work objectively. The moment Hotch and JJ's eyes rested on him though, he knew he was going to be chewed out at some point. JJ's pissed expression was clearly indicative of that.

"Not well," Hotch said. "His hatred for women isn't getting us anywhere. Nothing JJ did and nothing Seaver is doing is getting anywhere with him."

JJ shook her head. "The man's a misogynist through and through," she muttered.

Derek huffed. "Then let me in," he suggested, his passion for the case returning full force. He could deal with Elia later. "I can get him to talk."

"I don't need to remind you that the state you're in right now could be problematic for this," Hotch said, his tone hard as iron. "I wouldn't be letting you in if there was another option, but we need someone he'll identify as a powerful alpha-male. You're our best chance." He gave him a stern glare. "Don't make me regret this, Morgan."

Gritting his teeth, Derek managed, "I'll be fine." He ignored their skeptical looks and walked into the interrogation room. Both Seaver and Kelinski looked up. The trafficker was sitting back nonchalantly in his chair, appearing as though he had no worry in the world. He arched a brow as Derek sat down beside Seaver.

"Ah, sending a man in to do the real work," Kelinski grumbled in his thick Eastern European accent. His face shifted though as he studied Derek. Kelinski's dark eyes studied Derek across the table, searching for something that seemed to be recognition. It was different from when he'd first looked at him during his arrest.

Derek watched the expression on the other man's face. He glanced over at Seaver before glaring at Kelinski once more. "I hear you're not being cooperative with my colleagues. You wanna tell me why?" he asked.

Kelinski chuckled darkly. "Do I look like I'm going to tell a woman anything important?" Leaning forward, he observed Derek closely again. The look in his eyes was perturbing, and Derek felt a growing sense something was bugging the suspect about him. Shoving the glint in Kelinski's eye to the back of his mind the same way he had his fight with Elia, he went on to find out how the trafficker was connected.

Faking a laugh, Derek shook his head. He met Seaver's eyes and urged her to follow his lead. She gave the slightest of nods to show she understood. "Ah, I know how you feel," he said. "Can't trust these women at all, can we?"

"Never," Kelinski said, waving his hand dismissively in Seaver's direction. "They're trash." He eyed Derek carefully once more. "You are less — how do you Americans say? — _douchey _than you were before?"

Derek shrugged, nonchalant. "Standard procedure," he said. "I'm not usually like that. But now that I'm here I take it you'll finally talk. We both know this woman next to me isn't going to be smart enough to handle you. Hell, she's not even smart enough to be an agent here. She can't ask the right questions."

"Oh? What questions?" Kelinski asked.

Arching a brow, Derek went on. "Well, the first question I would have is why was your wallet found in an alley with two dead women thrown out like garbage?" His eyes bored into Kelinski. "What have you got to say about that?"

Kelinski offered no response. However, he averted his eyes and swallowed hard. It told Derek he was indeed guilty of what they already knew he was.

Derek continued asking questions, all of which didn't get him an answer. It didn't surprise him, though. This man was so deep in the human trafficking world it was unlikely they would get anything out of him. After a few minutes of keeping his eyes away, Kelinski returned his gaze to Derek. His eyes were glued to his face, unblinking. He observed him carefully, searching his face for something. What though, Derek couldn't tell.

"Still nothing?" Seaver interrupted. "No answers at all for why your wallet is at a murder scene?"

Observing Kelinski's face, it was abundantly clear his contempt for Seaver. Derek could profile multiple reasons why he hated women so much, and he knew they would have to use it to their advantage. With their luck at getting Kelinski so early on, he was their key to cracking down on the ring they were searching for.

"So what was it that made you hate these girls so much?" Seaver asked. "We know you probably killed the sexually assaulted woman — we'll find the one who killed Veronica Drake because you would never leave a woman unscarred — but we won't stop there. We —"

All of the sudden, Kelinski burst out laughing, his eyes never leaving Derek. A malicious glint lit up his eyes, and he grinned so widely it could have been a demon's smile. Seaver halted abruptly and narrowed her eyes. "Something funny?" she asked.

Kelinski nodded and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes never left Derek's as recognition lit up his face. "I know now where I know you from," he said, wagging a finger in Derek's direction. "I remember you now because she was my first."

"Oh?" Derek said, keeping his face neutral. "I don't remember you." This conversation was quickly going of course, and he nor Seaver could tell what direction.

"You wouldn't," he countered smugly. "I'm like a ghost. None of you see me coming."

Confusion set in. "Who are 'we' that you're talking about?" Derek asked.

"The husbands, the families." Nikolai Kelinski grinned wickedly.

Derek hoped his face was remaining as hard of stone as he had been keeping it through the whole conversation. He wanted to conceal the fact he was completely lost without a map in the interrogation going on. "What are you talking about?"

Sitting forward in his seat, Kelinski remained smiling. His eyes were dancing as he delighted in the sight of Derek's clear confusion. Lowering his voice, he spoke in a chilling voice that sent shivers down Derek's spin.

"I took your wife," Kelinski purred.

**Another puzzle piece! **


	9. Taken

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here's the next installment of **_**Gone**_**. I'm glad you guys liked the previous chapter. This story is a bit different than my usual stuff, so it's nice to hear you're enjoying it. Thank you very much for the reviews, and here's a little bit more for the story!**

"Cat got your tongue, Agent Morgan?" Nikolai Kelinski questioned with a smirk. "Didn't you hear me? I…took…your…wife. Your pretty, pretty wife. The one with the beautiful honey-colored hair, golden brown eyes, _kissable _lips. She will always be my favorite because she was my first. Took her from the store, tailed her for several days before I grabbed her." He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. His body language was vastly different than it had been before; he knew the change of subject was deterring the focus from him.

The power over Derek he was holding didn't hurt his ego either. He was getting off on it.

Derek, on the other hand, was experiencing a punched in the gut feeling. His head felt as though he'd been kicked in the teeth, and his tongue was swollen so he couldn't speak. Nikolai Kelinski's smug face swam before his eyes as he processed the words _I took your wife. _His world stopped, ripped off of its axis. The revelation the suspect in front of him spouted took away Derek's ability to speak.

Seaver took the lead, glancing over at Derek in confusion. She knew Penelope was gone, but she didn't know any of the details surrounding the disappearance. Returning her attention to Kelinski, she arched a brow. "Care to clarify what you're talking about?" she asked. "You've switched topics rather —"

"No, no," Kelinski said, wagging a finger at Seaver without even looking at her. "You're going to stay quiet now. This is between me and _Derek_." He gave her a toothy grin. "We've got a mutual friend. One neither of has seen in awhile. I've seen her more recently than him of course, but it doesn't change the fact that it's been awhile."

Derek merely stared at him.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten her," Kelinski went on. "That pretty wife of yours. I'll be honest I _have _forgotten her name, but I remember her face. I remember all their faces. It's like they're imprinted on the back of my eyelids." He leaned forward and folded his hands. "Tell me: have you remarried? Does that little baby have a new mommy? I know she's all grown up now — it's been seventeen years, after all — but does she call someone else _Mommy_?"

At the mention of Elia, Derek finally found his voice. It came out hard and gravelly, and he ignored the ringing in his ears as he talked. "Where is my wife?" he growled.

Kelinski chuckled. "Ah, so you haven't remarried," he observed. "That's touching. I'm sure you've been getting…_comforted _by other women for some time. I can't imagine a red-blooded male like you would go celibate for near twenty years."

Derek's jaw clenched, but he was rooted in his staring match with Kelinski the same way a tree was rooted the ground.

Nothing stopped Kelinski from marching forward. "She certainly hasn't remained celibate," he purred. "She's one of the most popular girls I've ever seen in this business. She _fights. _She fights like no other girl I've seen. The kind of men we serve, that's how they like them. It's what makes her most popular. And from what I hear…she's still the most popular item on many of the menus."

A wave nausea rolled over Derek's gut, and he felt the urge to vomit. Never in a million years did he imagine _this _was what happened to Penelope. Horror was racing through his veins, filling his body until he was afraid it was all he would feel from this moment forward. His fists clenched into balls, and his muscles tensed until he felt his body might be stiffen until it wouldn't move ever again.

"Where is she?" he choked out. "Where is Penelope?"

Kelinski shrugged. "Oh, well I wouldn't know that. She gets thrown around between our particular set of rings so much I can't possibly keep track."

"What can you tell us about your network?" Seaver asked, desperately attempting to steer the conversation away from what she knew was destroying Derek beside her.

"Oh, sweetheart you'll never catch them," he snickered. "There's no possible way. You think having me here will stop my colleagues? Oh, no. You'll never, ever catch them. These are not your normal sex traffickers. We serve the most bloodthirsty, vicious human beings who pays thousands of dollars to live their darkest sexual fantasies. You will never catch them, whether you manage to lock me up or not."

Derek was quickly losing his mind, and he slammed his fists down on the interrogation table. He was unable to see anything but red, blood red covering his vision until it was all he saw.

"_Where is Penelope_?" he roared.

Kelinski's smirk returned. "I told you, I don't know," he chuckled. "But you don't want to find her; the condition she'll be in? She'll be _ruined_."

That was when Derek lost it. Leaping to his feet, he went around the table to yank the suspect up and slam him into the hard concrete wall. Kelinski grunted but laughed at the same time, clearly enjoying the display of rage being directed at him. "Tell me where my wife is, you son of a bitch!" he hollered. "_Tell me_!"

Even though his back was pressed up against the concrete, Kelinski laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. "You're a little angry, aren't you, mate?" he chuckled.

"Where is she?" Derek hollered.

He didn't even hear the door slam open, nor did he feel his arms getting grabbed in iron grasp. Everything disappeared in that moment save for the desire to choke the life from the man in front of him.

"Morgan, get off of him! Get back!" Hotch said, pulling backwards with the help of JJ. They fought with all their strength to pull the rage-filled Derek from their suspect. They were on the winning side, using their combined strength to pull him backwards; however they were barely succeeding. Derek continued to yell, even as they were pulling him out of the interrogation room.

"Get off of me!" Derek shouted. "Let me get back in there!" The last thing he saw before the door closed was Kelinski's malicious grin, his eyes twinkling and sparkling with mischief. JJ moved to stand in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders, looking at him firmly. "JJ, let go of me! I have to get back in there. He knows where Penelope is."

Hotch shook his head, even though he looked as shaken all of them. Hearing any information about Penelope's disappearance that seemed remotely concrete made them all tremble. "Morgan, he's just trying to rile you up," he explained, attempting to remain objective. "Even if what he's saying is true, there is no guarantee she's still alive."

Trembling with fury, Derek shoved JJ's hands off of him and began pacing, running his hands over his head anxiously. "We need to find her! Did you hear what he said? She's getting tossed around the rings, and what they do to these women…we would have found her if they were dumping them the same way they're dumping ones. She's still out there! I know it!" His breathing was coming out in fast pants, and his blood was racing through his veins at race car speeds.

"Derek, you need to calm down," JJ said in a deathly still voice. "You're hyperventilating and will make yourself sick. Right now we can't do anything. We'll look into it, but you can't go back in there. You'll kill him."

"Damn right I will!" he roared. "He's hurt my wife, he deserves it!"

Hotch shook his head. "If he does know anything, killing him won't do anything but make the case die." Pointing to the door out of the viewing gallery, he said, "You need to leave and calm down. Go find Elia. Get a grip. We're taking you off this case…permanently. I'm tempted to send you back to Quantico."

Derek shook his head fiercely. "No," he groused. "Absolutely not. Until I'm satisfied Penelope has nothing to do with this, I'm not leaving. And if we get any wind of where she might be, I'm not resting until she's safe."

JJ put her hand on his shoulder. "Come on. We're going to find Elia. You're going to get a cup of coffee, and you're going to be with your daughter. You need her right now, whether she broke the rules or not."

Still trembling after hearing the news from Kelinski, Derek nodded. He really did need to see Elia. He needed to tell her there was a chance they would see Penelope again. Unsteadily, he stumbled out to the precinct's main room, ignoring the stares of the shocked officers as JJ led him to the conference room. But when they arrived in at the conference room, all they found were the crime scene photos, the wall map, and their whiteboard of notes and theories.

Elia was nowhere to be found.

Looking around wildly, Derek located a police officer and glared at him. "Where did my daughter go?" he barked.

The officer's eyes grew to plates. "Ou — outside," he stammered, pointing at the door.

Panicking, Derek nodded to him and dashed towards the doors, just as desperate to find his daughter as he was his wife.

XXXXX

Strolling down the sidewalk, Elia made sure to keep close to the police station. Her father would be mad enough about her leaving the room he'd confined her to, she didn't want to make things worse by walking too far away. She looked up at the night sky, the lights of the city twinkling brighter than any stars. She wished she could just disappear into the navy blue and not have to deal with her father right now. As she walked, her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out. It was Kyle calling.

"Hey," she said softly as she answered it.

His voice was worried as he spoke. "Elia?" he said desperately. "Are you okay?"

She was touched by his concern and smiled even though her situation was grim. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said. "Thanks for checking in on me. I…it'll be fine."

"I can't believe your dad would walk into the same restaurant we were in," he muttered. "That's got to be the worst thing ever." He paused. "How mad was he?"

Thinking back to Derek's expression and slamming down of the crime scene photos that scared her shitless, she bit her lip. Her father was furious; it was simple as that. "He's…he's pretty mad. I'm pretty sure he wants to ground me for life now." She laughed weakly.

Kyle sighed. "That sucks," he murmured. "I'm really sorry I pushed so hard for you to come. I shouldn't have done that."

She rolled her eyes, but was touched by his consideration and kindness. "Don't be sorry," she said. "I'm the one who chose to come. If it's anyone's fault, it's me. I'm responsible." She lowered her voice, a blush breaking out over her face even though there was no one there to see it. "And I, uh, I wanted to spend time with you."

His voice became hopeful. "Really?" He sounded just as nervous as she felt. It was as if she could hear his stomach churning just by him speaking. "With me?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, suddenly afraid he didn't really like her as much as she thought he did.

But when he chirped up next, he was practically singing. "Wow! Just…wow!" he crowed. "I…I didn't think you were interested in me like that, but — really am I dreaming this?"

She laughed softly. "No, not at all," she assured him. "I —" Before she could continue though, the sound of her name being hollered rang in her ears. She turned around wildly to see her father rushing down the steps of the precinct. But instead of looking furious, he looked panicked, anxious. Frowning, she stopped in her tracks on the lightly traveled sidewalk. "Hey, Kyle? I have to go…something's going —"

Elia couldn't finish speaking. The breath was stolen from her lungs as a hand clamped down on her mouth and yanked her backwards. Startled, she dropped her phone and heard it clatter on the sidewalk. She couldn't even scream; the hand over her mouth covered her senses with the smell of his cologne. She felt dizzy, her head spinning as she was dragged inside a van. Her last image of the street before the door slammed shut and the van sped off was her father's frightened face, twisted in a yell.

Struggling against her captor's grip, she kicked out as fiercely as she could. As the man in the ski mask held her, not speaking a single word, she let out a holler. "Let go of me!" she cried, fighting the whole way. Before she could say more, a piece of cloth was shoved into her mouth as a gag.

A hand dug into her wavy hair and grasped it at her scalp, feeling as though he might yank the hair out at her head. "Calm the fuck down, sweetheart," he hissed in her ear, his breath hot against her earlobe. The cold metal of a knife blade was placed against her pulse and dug in. "Don't move, or I cut this pretty little neck of yours. And I would hate to do that to a pretty girl like you….especially considering we're getting paid a lot of money to deliver you alive."

As the car sped down the road, Elia shook with fear and tears filled her eyes. She thanked whatever higher power there was it was dark so her captors couldn't see her tears.

XXXXX

A knock sounded from across Lilith's room, and she looked up from her leather bound book on her lap. She arched a perfect brow and rose to her feet. "Come in," she called, setting the book down and smoothing her black shin length skirt.

As the doors were pushed open to her room, her hired guns entered, pulling a fighting girl between them both. She was even more beautiful than the texted picture she'd been sent. Her youth and vitality was shining, completely obvious in the fight she was putting up. Lilith smiled wolfishly. As she gazed at her, the sense of recognition flared in the back of her mind once more, and she tried to pinpoint where she knew this girl's features.

The men pulled the girl along until she was standing in front of Lilith. A gag was in the girl's mouth, and her eyes were wide and frantic. She stared at Lilith, confused at her surroundings. Clapping her hands together, Lilith directed her attention to the men holding the girl by the elbows. She clucked her tongue. "Now, now boys," she purred. "Is that any way to treat a beautiful girl?" She snapped her fingers. "Let her go and take off that gag." When the cloth was out of the young girl's mouth, Lilith nodded at the door. "Leave us alone. We're going to have a little girl time before I send her to bed."

Wordlessly, the men left the room, leaving Lilith alone with her newest girl. After a moment of observing her, she strode across the room to her wine crystals and poured some into two glasses. The girl stared at her with wide eyes and a hard jaw. "So, my dear," she said walking back to her new prize. "What is your name?" She offered one of the wine glasses to her. When she refused the wine, Lilith shrugged. She set it down on the table in front of her and sipped her own drink. The rich taste of the wine filled her mouth, and she purred in appreciation. "Oh, so good. You really are missing out."

"Who are you?" the girl snarled.

Lilith watched her again. Her wild and almost untamable mane was spread out over her shoulders, and she was glaring at her hatefully with her golden brown eyes. Her skin was the color of cream-filled coffee, and her lips were pink and full. Her cheekbones were perfectly shaped; her body was slender in an hour-glass figure.

Why was she so familiar though?

Wagging her finger at the young girl, Lilith scolded her, "I asked you first, my darling. Tell me who you are, then I will tell you who I am."

Narrowing her eyes, the girl clearly thought about her options in what to do, but in the end decided to give it up. "Elia," she snapped. "My name is Elia."

Smiling, Lilith sipped her wine. "Elia," she repeated. "What a beautiful name. Who decided to name you that?"

"My mother," Elia responded.

"Oh?" Lilith said. "What is your mother's name? Did she have an equally pretty name?" This was always an enjoyable part of her process; she was very curious about all her girls' lives. It was like hearing a story, each of them having a different experience for her to see through their fear. They tended to babble when they were scared, giving away more of their stories than they thought they were.

Elia shook her head stubbornly. "Tell me who you are first. I told you who I was, you never told me who you were."

"Ah, you're right," Lilith admitted. "I did make that deal with you. My name is Lilith." She tapped her chin. "I bet you're wondering what you're doing here." She arched a brow once more. "Is my assumption correct?"

"You're damn right I'm wondering why I'm here!" Elia shouted.

Lilith chuckled. "I will explain that little detail later on," she explained. "Right now I'm just giving us a chance to talk. I get the feeling you're a fighter." She set her wine down and went forward to observe Elia more closely. As she circled the girl, touching her hair gently, she frowned. This girl was definitely familiar. "In fact…you remind me exactly of…" Her eyes went wide, and her mouth formed a small "o" shape.

"I remind you of who?" Elia snapped in question.

Without answering the girl, Lilith strode with purpose towards the door and swung it open. Brutus was standing watch for the evening, and his head snapped in her direction as the door opened. "Ma'am?" he asked.

Lowering her voice, she hissed, "Have Fynn bring me Penelope…now!"


	10. Voices

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thank you very much for the reviews! I appreciate it very much. We****'****re moving along with this story, and we****'****re going to get deeper into Lilith as well. I love hearing your feedback, so if you wish to, leave me a comment :)**

"_Elia_!" Derek hollered as his daughter was pulled backwards into the black van that was driving along the street the precinct was on. He hadn't even seen the car slowing down as it passed Elia on the street. Her face was covered in terror, eyes glued to Derek as the man in the ski mask clamped his hand over her mouth. As the van's door slammed shut and it started to speed away, Derek broke into a sprint down the middle of the street, chasing the van even though there was no human way he would reach it on his feet.

The few people who were on the street looked shocked at him and that a girl was snatched in front of them. They watched as if he were a lunatic trying to catch a speeding vehicle. None of them mattered, though. All he could focus on was Elia.

"Stop!" he roared, even though he knew the van wouldn't hear. "_Stop_!"

His lungs burned as he ran. His worst fear just came true, his daughter was caught in the clutches of someone who would hurt her. Not a scrape in the knee hurt, not the hurt of backstabbing by a best friend, but physical harm that could end her life. Both his feet flew across the asphalt, pounding like thunderclaps.

The van began to disappear down the street, no license plate, no back windows to allow him a view of the inside of it. As he ran, he approached an intersection, not even paying attention as he thundered into it. He didn't glimpse the car driving through that sent him flying to the ground. The vehicle slamming into him sent his body into shock. He felt like a ton of bricks was being thrown at him and crushing him to the pavement.

As he lay on the asphalt, stunned and staring up at the night sky that was illuminated by the lights of the city, he could vaguely make out the form of the driver standing over him. Her lips were moving, but her words weren't reaching his ears.

All he thought about was Elia. He could only imagine what she was feeling. His feelings were replaced entirely by hers. She must have been consumed by fear, alone and shaking.

_Hot Stuff__…__._

"Penelope?" he grumbled groggily. His vision was blurry, but behind his eyelids he could see Penelope's silhouette, her face concerned and gentle.

_You have to get up, Baby. Elia needs you._

"I need….I need…" But before he could say anymore, Derek fell into darkness, his mind losing all consciousness.

XXXXX

"Derek? Derek, look at me!" It was JJ's voice breaking through softly.

With his head rolling back and forth, Derek ignored the pain in his body. His vision was swimming, and he felt groggy as hell. Sputtering, he tried to sit up, but his body was too stiff and sore.

_Derek__…__Hot Stuff, get up__…__our baby needs you__…_

His eyes snapped open, and he began to breath in deep gasps. He was hearing his wife's voice in his head, but even as he looked around wildly, he couldn't find Penelope anywhere. "Penelope?" he choked.

"Morgan, hold still," Hotch's voice broke through. "You were hit by a car. Stop moving."

Adrenaline raced through his veins. Derek leapt to is feet, staring down the street where the van had disappeared. His mouth fell open, and his eyes began to burn. He began to shake, fear filling his body and panic striking his heart. The words his hallucinated Penelope had spoken in his head were ringing in his ears still.

He needed to find their daughter.

"Elia," he choked out, looking back at Hotch and JJ. "They took Elia!"

JJ looked like she was fighting to stay calm as well, even as she was trying to keep Derek from moving too much. Her limbs were shaking, and her eyes were dancing with panic at the mention of Elia. Hotch was the one who spoke first. "Morgan, we need to get you to the hospital," he said firmly. "You were just hit by a car."

"Absolutely not," Derek hollered, straightening up. "I'm not going to any fucking hospital. I'm going to find my daughter." He looked at them desperately. "Hotch, please. I need your help to find her. We _have_ to find her!"

Hotch shook his head. "Morgan, no —" he began.

"Hotch, I helped you when Foyet went after Haley," he growled, not caring he was going for a low blow with his boss. "I need you to help me find Elia!"

With a hard jaw, Hotch exchanged a glance with JJ and Reid, who had now shown up at the scene. JJ seemed extremely skeptical, Reid hesitant. None of them spoke though as they thought about whether or not to grant Derek his request.

"I'm sorry, but what the hell is going on?" the driver of the car that hit Derek demanded. "Are any of you going to call the police, or —"

Hotch glanced over at the driver and shook his head. "No, you can go. He's not going to let us take him to the hospital, and there's no damage to your car. Just go." He motioned for the team to follow him out of the middle of the intersection and onto the sidewalk. Derek winced as he walked, but he was buzzing with anxious energy.

He stumbled unsteadily, tripping on the curb as he walked onto the sidewalk. Reid went to his side to try and support him, but he was shaken off. Derek rubbed his face. "Guys, we need to find her," he croaked. "We need to find her friends and see if they saw anyone following her. There's no way they would have just come up the street like that if they weren't planning to take her. This isn't a prime location since it's right outside a police station. He must have seen her somewhere and followed her."

"What did you see?" Hotch asked calmly, his voice commanding Derek to steady himself without even saying the words. "You saw her get taken, what did you notice?"

Taking a deep breath, Derek began to pace. He couldn't banish Penelope's voice from his head, and he shook his head swiftly trying to snap out of it. "I — I saw that they just drove up next to her, grabbed her, and pulled her in. The guy was…he had to be six feet, but he had a ski mask on. So did his partner in the driver seat. There was no license plate, no windows except the front so I couldn't see anything in it, there was —"

"Derek, slow down," JJ said firmly. "We're going back to the station, and we'll send someone to pick up the kids to bring them down here. But you need to get inside."

"No! I need to find my daughter!" he roared.

JJ's face hardened. "We _all_ want to find Elia," she snapped, forcing him to look at her. "But right now you're acting irrational. If you want to find her, you need to calm the fuck down and work with us. You will be the most help to her if you do what you do best: profile the bastards to get her back."

Derek stared at JJ, panic bubbling through his heart once more. Tears pricked the back of his eyes, tears he was refusing to allow fall. If he did, he would break down completely. And right now that wasn't an option.

XXXXX

"What the hell?" Elia's best friend Sarah demanded as she and the rest of the group Elia had come to New York with were shuffled into the precinct. It was an hour after Elia had been taken, and the team had only just now managed to get the group into the precinct. They'd sent two SUVs, JJ and Reid being the team members who picked them up with the help of two officers. "Why did you bring us here?"

"Get them into the conference room," Derek ordered, staring hardly at all his daughter's friends as they were led in. He'd managed to calm down on the external side, but inside his emotions were a raging hurricane that had yet to calm. Until his daughter was back and safe, he didn't think it would come to a halt.

Sarah's eyes found him when he spoke, and she glared at him with a frosty expression. "Are you fucking kidding me?" she screeched. Based on the way she was stumbling, it looked like the group of them had been drinking. "Why did you drag us down here? You already took Elia out, now you wanna take us out?"

Not saying a word, JJ and Derek went into the room with the group of frightened teenagers and closed the door. Hotch was already waiting for them, already observing each and every one of them as they filtered inside. "Everyone, we need you to sit down," JJ said, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's enough chairs for all of you."

"You wanna tell me why we're all here?" Sarah complained. "Other than the fact that Elia's asshole dad hates us?"

Ignoring Sarah's outburst, Derek reached into his pocket and pulled out Elia's fallen phone. A crack had popped up on the screen, but he'd been able to look at her recent calls. When she'd been taken, she'd been on the phone with someone.

"Which one of you is Kyle?" Derek growled, holding up his daughter's phone and glaring hardly at the four boys in the group.

The only member of the group who didn't seem drunk at all was a handsome young man with blonde hair and glittering blue eyes. Gulping, he stood up. "I'm Kyle," he said. "I swear I wasn't trying to get her in trouble, I just wanted to see if she was okay. She seemed really upset when —"

"Where the fuck is Elia anyway?" Sarah slurred, interrupting Kyle. Her gaze was unfocused as she glared at Derek. "Did you lock her up in a jail cell like the dictator you are?"

"You're going to shut up right now!" JJ snapped, planting both her palms on the table and shooting Sarah a scathing look. It seemed to shut Sarah up, at least for the moment. JJ could be frightening if she put her mind to it, and by the looks of it, the girl was terrified of her. "I don't care how much you've had to drink. Keep your mouth closed."

Once Sarah was quiet, Derek turned his attention back to Kyle. "You were talking to her on the phone when they took her," he growled. "Did she say anything about who it might have been, anything about what they looked like?"

Kyle's face paled. "Wait, _what_?" he sputtered. "What happened to Elia?"

"She was kidnapped as she was talking to you on the phone," Derek said, his fists clenched around his daughter's phone. "Did she say anything that might have —"

Kyle looked deathly afraid as he interrupted Derek. "No!" he panicked. "Nothing. She…she just said something was going on and then the line cut off. I thought she hung up on me because you were calling her name!" He threaded his fingers through his hair. "Oh, God! She's —"

"Wait, wait!" Sarah said, holding up both her hands. "Elia was _kidnapped_?" Her eyes were blurry and bloodshot, and it didn't appear as though she or anyone else aside from Kyle could comprehend what was going on.

Rolling his eyes, Derek ignored Sarah and kept his attention on Kyle. Derek was keeping his attention on every angle of the boy's body language, and what he saw was pure anxiety. He was genuinely concerned about Elia. In fact, he was terrified for her. "Mr. Morgan, I'm sorry," the boy said, rising to his feet. "I'll do whatever I can to help. I don't —"

Derek held his hand up. "If you want to help," he interrupted, "come with us. The rest of you, stay here and sober up. We'll be calling your parents, and if you stay put, we'll make sure you don't get arrested for underage drinking. If you stay here, no officer will have to know."

"Hey, hey!" Sarah said, leaping to her feet. "She's my bestie, I want to help, too!"

"Stay there," JJ muttered, pointing to Sarah's seat as she headed out of the room with Derek, Hotch, and Kyle. They reached the table where Sanders and Reid were set up. Seaver was there as well, checking in on what they were planning.

Hotch frowned as he watched Sanders speaking hastily into the phone. As they waited for both to be off the phone, Derek turned to Kyle and crossed his arms, attempting to remain calm as possible. He was unbelievably grateful that at least one of his daughter's friends cared about her. But it did little to quell his churning stomach. His hands were twitching, and he had to hold his elbows tightly to keep anyone from seeing. He remembered the words JJ had spoken; he had to do his job and profile if he wanted Elia back.

"What can I do to help?" Kyle asked, wringing his hands together.

"There's probably not much you can do other than tell us if you saw anything," JJ admitted. "Did you see anyone following you? This man who took Elia would have been following her for at least several hours." As Kyle furrowed his brow, attempting to remember anything he possibly could, JJ continued. "She was grabbed into a black van, and —"

Kyle shook his head, frustrated. "I - I can't remember," he interrupted, rubbing his face. "I'm —"

"You've got nothing?" Derek muttered, beginning to pace once more.

Shaking, Kyle looked around the station wildly. His frantic body movements and shaking were an exact replica of how Derek felt. Hotch, who had been observing the behavior of all of Elia's friends, was back to focussing on Kyle. "Kyle," he said. "Would you be willing to do something for us?" Seeing that just his voice wasn't going to be good enough to truly draw the boy's attention, he added, "It may help us find Elia."

Swallowing hard, Kyle finally looked at Hotch. "Yes," he breathed. "Anything."

Looking at Reid, Hotch nodded. "Set up a cognitive interview with him. Let us know immediately if something comes up." Reid motioned to Kyle and lead him to an empty room down the hall. As soon as they were gone, Hotch turned to look at Derek square in the eye. "He isn't going to give us much. Even if he remembers a van, it won't give us anything."

Derek's heart clenched in his ribcage; what Hotch was saying was true.

"Guys, I have a thought," Seaver murmured. "It has to do with another case our team's tech found."

"What is it?" Derek croaked. His whole body was tense, like a live wire ready to explode at the slightest spark. He didn't dare hope for anything, but he couldn't stop himself from wishing Seaver had something to help. "What did you find?"

She met his eyes before pulling out her tablet to open a file. Handing it over to Hotch, she began to explain. "It has to do with crimes similar to Veronica Drake. All of them happened within the last five years, all teenage girls snatched between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, all dead from exsanguination."

"You're trying to talk to us about the case right now?" Derek thundered. Hotch shook his head at him, wordlessly telling him to calm down. When he was confident Derek would remain quiet, he returned his eyes to the tablet.

Seaver didn't blink. "Hear me out," she urged. "On that file that Hotch has are _twelve_ girls; all in the age range, all spread out throughout the city, all with slit wrists, all varying ethnicities and body types, _all _virgins. These girls are all around Elia's age, all taken and dumped with at least one severely sexually assaulted woman." She looked down at the table a moment. "Is Elia…"

Derek blinked. His eyes drifted to the hall where Reid and Kyle had disappeared. He didn't have an honest answer to Seaver's question. "I don't - I don't know," he stammered, embarrassed. This was something he hadn't prepared for, and Elia herself had said she'd rather learn about sex from a woman. Naturally, she'd turned to JJ, her godmother.

"Yes," JJ whispered, frazzled. "She is." She rubbed his forehead, hands shaking.

Feeling like he might vomit, Derek put his palms on the back of a chair to steady himself. Elia fit the victimology of all the previous girls. If that was the case, they had to find her fast. He didn't know what he would do if his daughter ended up like them.

Seaver's face softened with pity. "Elia fits the victimology," she murmured. "Is it coincidence that Nikolai Kelinski's wallet would be found at the scene of a girl who fits the same profile?"

Derek felt the blood drain from his face. His limbs went numb, and his gut began to churn, vicious as a storm. Something inside him broke, like the ends of a rope fraying and unraveling into chaos. All at once he felt like he was getting hit by the car again, the force hitting his body stronger and shaking his innards like a can of soda. Clenching and unclenching his fists, he attempted to take a deep breath and fill his lungs with fresh air. Every gaze was focussed on him, searching for a reaction.

_Elia needs you, Baby__…_

The second Penelope's voice filled his ears once more, he couldn't control his body's physical reaction. Shaking his head, he dashed to the nearest trashcan and did something he never did on a case, no matter how gruesome or horrifying it was: he retched up the contents of his stomach.

XXXXX

Penelope sat curled up in the corner of her cage, her knees pulled up to her chest as she shivered in her satin shift. The slaughterhouse was bitterly cold, and she was nursing new bruises. One of the girl's she'd been sharing a cage with had struggled when she was getting fetched for one of Lilith's customers, and Penelope spoke up, resulting in a vicious beating for her.

As she sat curled up, trembling from the cold, her ears heard the sound of a struggling girl being dragged down the hall toward Lilith's room. It reminded her of Veronica. She'd been there for a mere three days, then she was gone, vanished from the face of the earth. Penelope couldn't fathom what the girl's fate had been.

Thinking about Veronica hurt Penelope worse than any bruises could. It wasn't even Veronica herself that crunched her ribs together around her heart; it was what the girl represented. Veronica was sixteen, only a year younger than Penelope's own daughter.

When Penelope had a few precious minutes alone, she would imagine what her daughter's life had become. Was she reserved and private like Derek, did she want to go to college or spend her years traveling, had she been in love? Did she know who her mother was?

She had a recurring, yet flickering memory of her Elia, but it was one she held onto like she would hold onto a ledge she was dangling from. She was the most beautiful baby in the whole world; every mother thought that about their child, but Penelope knew it was true about her baby girl. Derek told her every day after Elia was born that she would look like Penelope. She held on to the image of her beautiful baby, her cheeks and eyes holding her infant giddiness and her bouncy mahogany curls wiggling as she giggled.

It was all she had of Elia. She would never hear her speak or see her grow up, so she had to keep her memories alive.

With dry eyes and a hemorrhaging heart, Penelope leaned her head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. She needed to banish the thoughts of her daughter from her mind before she became too overwhelmed with pain, both physically and emotionally. It would be useless to try and sleep; Derek and Elia would only invade her dreams. Instead she was going to focus on her breathing, the one and only thing she _could _control.

As she stared at the darkened ceiling, counting the seconds of her inhales and exhales, a rattling came from her cage door, and her head snapped in the direction. The shape of one of Lilith's goons was at the door, unhinging the padlock and entering. She stared at the darkened form, not moving an inch, even when he stood towering above her.

"Up, doll," a smooth voice spat.

She rolled her eyes. Someone in the universe had it out for her to send Fynn to her door. He didn't give her even a moment to react before he leaned down and yanked her to her feet. Wincing, Penelope stumbled unsteadily on her bruised legs. "Fynn," she grumbled sarcastically. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Move, beautiful," Fynn growled, grabbing her behind her purple and yellow bruised neck. "Lilith wants to see you."

"Little late for her to be making people come to her lair, isn't it?" she muttered as she was pushed down the hall. They stopped in front of the door where Brutus knocked to gain entrance to Lilith's tiny frozen kingdom for them. As Fynn increased the pressure on her neck while they waited, she gritted her teeth in pain and shot her elbow backwards into his gut to get him off of her.

He grunted as the door was opened wider, and they were allowed in. "Get in there!" he snarled, shoving her inside until she tumbled to a heap on the floor. Before she could lift herself up, his foot connected with her already bruised gut. Sliding his boot up her sternum, he rested it on her nose and pressed down until she felt a small trickle of blood slide down her upper lip.

"Fynn!" Lilith snapped. "That's enough. We don't want to bruise up her face anymore than you already have. Let her up, then get the hell out."

Snickering, Fynn removed his foot and started to stalk out of the room. Penelope lifted herself unsteadily and rose to her feet, closing her eyes as the aches hit her body full force. She bent her head, and her hair fell in her face. When she wiped her nose, the back of her hand came away covered in blood. Chuckling bitterly at the crimson streak, she looked up at Lilith and arched a brow. "What do you want, Lilith?" she muttered. "I'm tired."

"Don't lie, sweetling," Lilith said with a cluck of her tongue. "We all know you don't sleep often." She grinned at Penelope, earning herself a scathing glare in return. "However, we're not here to discuss each other. I've got someone for you to meet."

Penelope moved her hair out of her face. She hadn't even noticed someone was in the room with Lilith. It was a teenage girl, around sixteen or seventeen years old, with extremely beautiful features and a head of wavy mahogany hair. Her face as she took in Penelope was one of pure shock. It didn't surprise Penelope all that much; the state Lilith and her predecessors had left her in would make any normal human being quake with fear.

However when she looked at the girl for a moment, something stirred inside her, something…well, she couldn't place her finger on what it was. The girl wasn't even afraid as she looked at Penelope, merely shaken. Her face became pale, and her mouth was agape in shock.

Finally tearing her eyes from the teenage girl, Penelope returned her gaze to Lilith. The other woman was smirking, tilting her wine glass to her lips as she observed both Penelope and the girl. "Why am I meeting her?" Penelope asked softly.

"I wanted to test a theory," Lilith mused, setting her wine down and walking around her table to stand between both Penelope and the girl. "And based on what I'm seeing, my theory is correct."

"What theory?" Penelope growled, hate radiating from her gaze as she stared at Lilith.

Lilith giggled, her laugh coming out like the twinkling of tiny bells. She clapped her hands together devilishly. "It would make sense for you to not recognize someone you haven't seen in almost twenty years," she purred, going over to the young girl's side and resting her chin in the crook of the girl's neck. She blinked her almond eyes innocently at Penelope. "Look closely at this beautiful girl. Don't you see anything familiar?" Lilith moved a lock of the girl's hair out of her face and smoothed it down her back. "Does anything stir in you when you look at her?"

Penelope met Lilith's newest captive's gaze once more, the same feeling washing over her that had run over her when she'd first looked at her. The girl's brown eyes were overflowing with tears, and she looked dangerously close to collapsing with all the blood that was drained from her face. There wasn't an ounce of fear in her features, just stunned silence.

As Penelope scrutinized the girl more closely, exploring the indescribable feeling raging in her, Lilith spoke again, her silky voice sliding through Penelope's ears like an eel. "Oh, _Penelope, _how could you not know who this is? I know you were taken a long time ago, but _surely_ a mother would recognize her own child."

Eyes ripping away from the girl, Penelope stared at her captor in horror, her mouth and gut dropping until she felt like she would retch. Tears flooded her eyes, and she closed her eyes tightly, desperately hoping she was dreaming. All her physical pain from the bruises and bloody nose disappeared, filling her heart until it overwhelmed her. A strangled cry escaped her throat, and she covered her mouth with her trembling hand.

"_Elia_?" she gasped.


	11. For the First Time

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**I apologize for not updating sooner. This chapter was tougher to write, and I appreciate the patience. Thank you so much for your readership and reviews. It means a lot to me :) Here's the part I've been most excited to write, and that's Elia and Penelope's first meeting. I hope you'll like it!**

Elia always imagined what it would be like to know her mother. She saw girls all around her all through her life who had mothers, she saw JJ's relationship with her own daughters. All around her were mother-daughter relationships. When she saw what seemingly every human being around her possessed yet she herself lacked, it only made her imagination's creation stronger. Younger Elia dreamed that she could be like all the other girls whose mothers braided their hair and baked cookies for them; as she grew up, she began to want a support system who she could talk about friend troubles with or ask questions about what it would be like to fall in love.

If she was curious about Penelope in anyway, she had to ask Derek.

"_Daddy," Elia asked, plopping herself down next to him, notebook on her lap. Derek was sitting on the couch in the living room, his tablet open on his lap as he scrolled through while getting his own work done. His eyes flicked sideways to his eight year old daughter as she stood in front of him with crossed arms._

"_Elia," he replied, lips quirking into a smile._

_Ignoring pleasantries that typically accompanied a conversation, she opened her notebook as if she were conducting an interview and got her pen ready. "We're doing a homework project about our families, and I need to know about Mom." She frowned. "Well, Mom-_stuff_. We have to say what we like to do with each of our parents, and I don't know what I would do with Mom, so we have to lie."_

_Derek's smile dropped from his face, and he looked immediately toward the mantle above the fireplace where Penelope's picture was. Elia studied her father carefully, waiting for an answer._

"_Baby," he faltered. "I…why don't I just call Mrs. Johnson? She should know to excuse you from that part."_

_Shaking her head, Elia tapped her pencil on the top of his head. "No, Daddy," she insisted. "I need to do this. I don't care if you want to tell Mrs. Johnson. You haven't told me _anything _about my mom other than I look just like her and act like her twin, and I wanna know." She sat up straight and nodded decisively. "So you're going to tell me…" Pausing, she bit her lip as she studied her questionnaire. "…what do Mom and I like to do together?"_

_Her father didn't immediately answer. When she looked back at him, she noticed he was staring blankly into space. Swimming on the surface of his eyes was a sadness she saw quite often, proof of it shimmering in the tears he never shed. Seeing Derek sad made her sad, more sad than having to do assignments like this one, as was custom of grade schoolers._

_Immediately, she backtracked. "We don't have to —"_

"_Your mama told me when you were really little she wanted you two to do _everything _you ever wanted to do," he interrupted gently, setting his work aside. "She didn't care what. She would have played football with you if that's what you wanted." When Elia crinkled her nose in distaste at the idea, he laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, kissing her temple in the process. "That's exactly the face she would've made."_

"_So does that mean there are moms and daughters who play _football _together?" Elia asked as she leaned her head against his chest. "That's what they do? I thought they did…different things than that."_

"_Sweetheart, mamas will do anything for their babies," Derek told her confidently._

In the end, Elia saw it made Derek too sad to talk about her mother, and she stopped. He was too weighed down by what he did for a living to have to deal with the grief of losing Penelope every time she asked a question. So she was left to the devices of her own imagination.

Nothing though, not even a scant amount of knowledge about what her father did for a living, could have prepared Elia for what meeting her mother like for the first time really was.

Seeing the gruff looking man that smelled of unpleasant aftershave and had a row of scratches across one side of his face throw a woman inside the room scared Elia at first. As soon as that woman rose to her feet and stumbled forward came into view, though, everything changed. She saw the woman's face in nearly every photo in her house. Age had left surprisingly little indentation on her, only a few crinkles around the corner of her eyes and her mouth. Her hair still held its honey color, however it wasn't tamed down or styled like it had been in the photos. She'd dropped a significant amount of weight as well.

But it was _her_. Beneath the bruises, it was Penelope.

Every word Lilith said or movement she made, even the questions over why she was taken disappeared as Elia stared at Penelope. She wanted to say something, _anything, _but she couldn't find her voice. It was clogged, bottled and plugged up so tightly it would take a giant's hands to uncork it. The only thing leaving her body were the tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Oh, _Penelope, _how could you not know who this is?_" _Lilith's hands were resting on Elia's shoulders. Shock was weighing her body down, leaving her no strength left to shake the silky hands off. "I know you've been gone a long time, but _surely _a mother would recognize her own child," Lilith purred.

The cry that filled the room after Penelope's eyes lit up in realization broke Elia's heart. "_Elia_?" she sobbed.

"Ah! There's that motherly instinct kicking in!" Lilith cooed, giddily returning to fetch her wine glass. "I was beginning to worry it had been drained out of you." She bit her pinky nail and looked at the ceiling. "How _ever_ did the universe see fit to grant me the opportunity to host both you lovely ladies?"

Lilith's words fell on deaf ears, though. Neither Penelope nor Elia was paying her any attention. Swaying on her weak feet, her mother walked forward to stand in front of her. Their identical eyes met, and Penelope reached out a trembling hand to touch Elia's cheek. The second her mother's frozen, shaking fingers touched her face, tears poured out of both their eyes, sliding down their cheeks like rain on windows. Meeting her mother for the first time, seeing her body covered in bruises and a fragmented spirit that was barely flickering through the cracks, broke Elia's heart more than she ever thought possible.

Horrific as it was though, something clicked into place inside her when she looked at Penelope. Now that she was seeing her mother in front of her, she felt complete, like she knew who she was after roaming in the dark on hands and knees.

She couldn't find words; she merely stared at her mother with both joy and sorrow.

Penelope didn't say anything as she wrapped Elia in her arms and held her tightly. Elia couldn't control her tears as her she felt her mother hold her in her arms for the first time. Or at least the first time Elia could remember; the months when she'd been a baby were something she clearly would not remember. Getting over her shock, Elia wrapped her arms gently around her mother. She was scared to death she might hurt her more if she hugged her too tightly. Her mother moved backwards to get a better look at her. Her hand touched her cheek again, and her red-rimmed eyes welled up with more tears.

"Look at you…" Penelope whispered hoarsely, looking like she was memorizing every inch of Elia's face as quickly as she could.

In turn, Elia studied her mother. One of her eyes was swollen and purple, and there was a split in her lip that appeared to be in the beginning stages of healing. She had obviously been beaten recently, and the sight made Elia choke on a sob. "Mom…what did they do to you?"

"Yes, she is quite a sight," Lilith interrupted, her voice shattering the moment like a dropped vase. "Shocking for you, I'm sure."

As soon as Lilith spoke across the room, an innocent, doe-eyed smile that barely concealed her diabla glee on her face, Penelope turned her attention to her. "Lilith, please," she pleaded tearfully. "Please don't do this to my daughter. I'll do anything you want. Please, just let her go!"

Downing the last of her wine, Lilith clucked her tongue and shook her head. "No, no," she giggled with a wag of her finger. "She's far too valuable. I'm half tempted to keep her as my pet, possibly groom her to take over my job after me. And let's not forget she would keep you in line." Clapping her hands together, she sighed. "Alas, I have another more…pressing use for this lovely lady." Her bloodthirsty, devilish grin sent shivers up Elia's spine.

"I'm begging you!" Penelope sobbed. "Don't make her live like this."

"Oh, that's something you won't have to worry about," Lilith purred. "Provided she passes the qualifications test I have, that is." Elia shivered at the mention of the "qualifications test" Lilith mentioned. What could she possibly mean? Laughing, she raised her voice to call out to the door. "Brutus, Fynn! Get in here." Elia and Penelope turned to look toward the door where both Lilith's men were coming through. Mother and daughter remained close together as the domineering body builders entered.

"What do you need, ma'am?" Fynn asked, holding his hands behind his back.

Nodding once in the direction of Elia and Penelope, Lilith crossed her arms over her chest. "Take my spitfire back to her cage," she ordered, pointing a long finger at Penelope. Elia took notice of her nails, all ten crimson. It was a common motif she was noticing about Lilith; everything was red. Blood red. "I have to spend a little time with our newest guest."

Penelope flew forward to Lilith, dodging Fynn and Brutus. She grabbed Lilith's wrists in a death grip, nails digging into the lily white skin. "Don't do whatever you do to the girls like Veronica!" she begged, tears coursing down her face. "Don't do this to my daughter. Please, Lilith!" Before she could move her hands to shake Lilith's shoulders, she was grabbed backwards by the elbows.

"_Stop!_" Elia sprang forward to launch herself at both Brutus and Fynn. She didn't care that both of them were two and half times her size. Her anger flared into overdrive, revving up like a war engine, and giving her the rush of adrenaline she needed. She wasn't quite sure where her flash of bravery was manifesting from, but she didn't care. All that mattered was getting Lilith and her men off of Penelope. Quick as a viper, Lilith snatched Elia around the waist, using her free hand to grab her chin and force her head to stare at Penelope struggling in her captors' grasp. The slender woman was stronger than she appeared at first glance, and no amount of passionate fighting Elia put out could free her. "Get off of me!" she snarled. She felt like gagging from the sickly sweet smell of peppermint oil on Lilith's hands.

"Tut, tut." Her voice slithered into Elia's ears, sending shivers down her spine. Elia was facing her mother now, both of them trapped. She placed a kiss on Elia's cheek before turning to her boys. "Hit her," she ordered swiftly, nodding at Penelope. "Penelope's darling baby needs to see what happens to those who disobey me."

Elia shook her head vigorously. "Please…don't," she whimpered through her tears. Her mother, on the other hand, didn't appear scared at all of the physical pain coming. It was the same as when she'd been thrust into the room when Elia had first laid eyes on her. Penelope was so used to the pain, it didn't have an effect on her.

"Hold still, doll. It'll hurt less if you don't struggle." A gleeful Fynn pulled his arm back, holding steady as he seemingly plotted his perfect arch to cause the most amount of damage. When he found the best angle, he landed his fist on her lip again. His hand came back to reveal her blood-stained lips.

"See what Mr. Fynn is doing there, sweetling?" Lilith hissed in Elia's ear. The sugary sweetness of her voice had evaporated completely, leaving in its place a snapping viper that was ready to pierce its fangs into her victims. "That is what happens when you misbehave. And mommy dearest does that a lot." She moved her hand down to Elia's throat and squeezed. "This is what will happen to her if _you _misbehave. I can't have you getting all marked up just yet."

Bravery failed Elia. She wanted desperately to leap up and be the hero, the type her father was. But courage abandoned her as Lilith forced her to stare at her mother. Tears poured down her face, and she trembled with fear. "Okay, okay!" she wept. "Please stop hurting her!"

Lilith kissed Elia's cheek once more, causing her to wince and shiver. Giggling, she snapped her fingers, and Fynn grabbed Penelope's hair, yanking her head backwards to expose her bruised throat. "You can take our darling lady back now, boys," Lilith purred, stroking Elia's hair. "You can return to the door when you're done, and I'll call you to return for Penelope's baby. Although she's not exactly a wittle bitty baby is she?" She laughed once more, the room filling with the sound of a haunting melody.

"No!" Penelope screamed as she was dragged, kicking and fighting, from the room. "Lilith, let her go! Get her back to Derek! I'm —" The door slammed shut behind her. Gradually, Penelope's screams of fury at Lilith dissolved, leaving nothing but Elia's sobs to be heard.

Finally, Lilith ripped her hands away from Elia and allowed her to fall to her knees on the floor to weep into her hands. She coughed roughly, sounding like she would vomit. After what she saw, Penelope beaten and broken spirited, Elia didn't know if she would recover. Her father shielded her from everything he did in his job, but now she was standing in front of the horror house that kept him awake with nightmares that he thought she didn't know about. It was all right in front of her, real and concrete, and tangible in a way that made her realize just how much she'd been shielded from in the world.

From her spot on the floor, Elia managed to lift her gaze to her captor and stare at her with seething contempt. "You took my mom!" she cried. "You took her from us! I grew up without a mom, my dad was destroyed…because of _you_!"

Lilith's face flashed violently, and in a matter of seconds she leaned down to hiss, "Do I _look_ like I'm old enough to have stolen your mother away from you?"

Elia was taken back by the drastic shift from gleeful psychopath to vengeful demoness. Through her tears, she shook her head. She didn't want to set Lilith off so severely she went after Penelope once more. It still wasn't clear to her why the woman's demeanor changed so much, but the thought didn't last long in her head; there wasn't enough room for both it and the fear of retaliation against her mother.

"Let's get one thing clear," Lilith warned through gritted teeth. "I am not the one who took your mother, I am not the one who broke her. That happened long ago, before I was even twenty years old. Do not ever presume to say I am as old as that. Ever. If we go down that road, I will get Mr. Fynn back, and he'll knock Mommy around more."

Biting her lip, Elia nodded. "I won't. I promise."

Lilith's eyes remained steely for what seemed like an eternity, her gaze drilling into Elia until she felt like she would crack in half. But then a devilishly wicked grin spread over Lilith's face once more, and her furious persona evaporated away. Stroking back a tendril of Elia's hair, she murmured, "Much better, sweetling." Backing away, she motioned for Elia to rise with her and sit on the love seat.

Not wanting any harm to come to her mother, Elia followed without hesitation. Tears were still in her eyes, but she was forcing them to remain where they were. She didn't want this bitch to see what she was doing to her mentally. To keep herself from weeping, she was digging her nails into her skin. It was the only thing keeping her focus off of where she was and who her captor was. She sat gingerly on the side of the seat where Lilith urged her.

"Tell me, darling," Lilith purred, blinking with starry-eyed innocence. "Are you healthy? Any diseases I should know about that run in your family?"

Elia stared at her hatefully, not speaking a long moment. How had this woman managed to do a complete three-sixty in her personality in less than half an hour? In the end, she decided it would be best to just answer. "No," she said hoarsely. "I'm fine."

Lilith nodded pensively. "Excellent," she murmured. Leaning back, she looked up at the ceiling and giggled. "You see, it really is a coincidence we stumbled upon you. Originally I wasn't going to need another girl for some time. Unfortunately, there was a…_spill _when someone was cleaning up after our last guest, and we needed an emergency backup." Her melodic giggle filled the room again. "Who knew the backup girl would be prettier _and_ the darling baby of one of my stars!"

Stomach churning at the mention of her mother being a "star," Elia fought the urge to lean over and choke the life from Lilith. Instead, she remained as calm as possible and began to speak. "What do you need me for?" she asked hoarsely. "Why does it matter if I'm healthy?"

"Oh, this is always the fun part!" Lilith said clapping her hands together excitedly. She looked like an excited toddler on Christmas morning, wild and excited light filling her eyes. "See, this all depends on how you answer my next question. One way leads you to a path like Mommy Dearest's, the other way…well, it leads to something _much _more interesting."

Elia's hands clenched into tight balls that caused her knuckles to drain of all color. "What question?" she demanded.

Lilith observed her fingernails and blew out a sigh. "My next question is the most important question of all," she whispered, leaning in to touch Elia's cheek.

"Spit it out," Elia growled, ready to lean over and strangle the evil woman who was in some way responsible for Derek's unhappiness.

"Are you a virgin?"

XXXXX

"How is he?" JJ murmured as Reid exited the room where he had been conducting a cognitive interview with Elia's friend, Kyle. She looked through the glass at the teenage boy who was sitting with his head in his hands. He seemed deathly afraid, his hands were shaking and his skin was clammy white. And unlike the rest of the kids Elia had stolen away with to New York, he really cared about her. Even her best friend was acting oddly nonchalant about her disappearance.

Reid frowned and shook his head. "Upset," he replied. They started for the interrogation rooms. "He's got very strong feelings for Elia. That's about all I found out. They had no idea they were being followed; these guys managed to stay hidden well. Whoever they are, they're professionals." As they walked, both of them caught sight of Derek in the conference room with Hotch and Sanders. He was pacing back and forth, an angry and frustrated expression on his face. Sanders was attempting to calm him down, but he went on pacing, shaking his head and cursing about something.

He looked broken.

It broke JJ's heart to see her friend like this. He lost his wife seventeen years ago, he didn't deserve to lose his daughter in the same way. Equally heartbreaking was imagining what Elia must have been enduring. Wherever she was, JJ wished wholeheartedly she was safe for the moment.

Lowering his voice, Reid asked, "How is Morgan? You're the one who's been with him most of the evening."

"Well between the fact his daughter is missing and an evil son of a bitch is claiming his wife was taken by one of the worst human trafficking rings we've never caught, I'd say he's doing pretty piss poor," JJ revealed as they continued to the interrogation room. They entered the viewing room where they could see Nikolai Kelinski staring smugly at the ceiling. She sighed shakily, tears burning in the back of her eyes. Thinking of Elia was making her own stomach churn. If Seaver's theory about Kelinski being connected in some way to her goddaughter was right, things were going to get worse before they got better. "I've _never_ seen him this way, Spence, even after Penelope. If anything happens to Elia, he's going to lose it."

Reid nodded as they stopped at the door. He grimaced at JJ. She could tell he was feeling just as awful as she was. Forcing her tears to remain inside, she wrapped her arms around Reid and hugged him. "We'll find her." He rubbed her back to comfort her. "I don't usually think like that because we never know that, but if this were Marie, I'd be devastated," he said, referring to his own daughter. "I'd want to think as positively as I could."

She nodded. "We need to get in there," she said, opening the door to the interrogation room. She was scared to death for Elia, so much so she was feeling sick. "Let's get this deal out for him. We need to find Elia."

"Well, well," Kelinski said. "I'm getting the whole range of you people today, aren't I?" He smiled smugly. "Tell me, is Agent Morgan weeping for his lost wife?"

Squaring her jaw, JJ sat down across from Kelinski and stared at him with venom. "Here's the deal," she warned. She looked to Reid, and he offered her the photo of Veronica Drake's body. "You will tell us everything you know about the person who killed this girl, or we find every possible way to make it seem like you have squealed on your whole operation." She didn't care how she sounded or that what she was about to propose was not exactly following the regulations she was responsible for upholding. The look on his face told the story that yes, he was scared now. "You're going to tell us all of this, and you're going to tell us why they decided to take another girl the same age as Veronica so soon after her body was found."

"I don't really think you want your friends knowing you're out and relaxing, thinking you've given out information on your business," Reid added, a stony expression on his own face.

Kelinski puffed out his chest. "You have nothing on me. You can't make it seem that way."

"We have enough," JJ growled. "Now you're going to tell us why they took another girl, or we're going to make your life hell. If you tell us what we need to know, we will use your cooperation to get a less hefty sentence."

Swallowing hard, Kelinski looked at the photo before looking up at JJ. He was trying to tell if he was really in the situation she was presenting to him. Apparently her thinly explained plan was causing him to pause. It told both JJ and Reid volumes about how the human trafficking rings Kelinski was deep into ran. He was scared of them.

"What will it be?" Reid asked after many moments of silence.

Kelinski sighed. "I will help you," he groused with reluctance. "Do you have a picture of this girl they took?"

JJ shook her head viciously. "You don't get to see that," she said fiercely.

Kelinski arched a brow at her. "Agent, if you want my help I need to see a picture of this girl," he snapped. "It matters, believe me."

She glared at him with a steely expression, but when she glanced at Reid for advice, he nodded. He seemed to think Kelinski's question was valid. Still not liking the idea, JJ reached into her pocket and produced her phone. When she found a photo of Elia she had, she presented it to him and watched as he observed the picture. She waited for him to make some comment about Elia, but he remained silent while he looked at her. In fact, he'd seemed to have lost his smug attitude after she mentioned offering him up like meat to his fellow traffickers. Hopefully it would continue this way.

"This girl, she's the right type," he commented. When he looked back at JJ and leaned forward, pointing at the screen. "Is she a virgin?"

"Yes," JJ said. "What does that detail have to do with these girls and why they get taken? We've found that in the last five years twelve girls who are all virgins have been taken and murdered in the same way. Who is doing this to them, and why do they have to be virgins?" Beside her, Reid watched the man's body language carefully.

Kelinski leaned back in his chair, a grave expression on his face. "Tell me," he prompted. "You can offer me protection? No one will kill me if I help you?"

"We guarantee _they _will not harm you," JJ clarified. "You will still be charged with murder of the girls you've killed and for the activities you've had in human trafficking. But you will not be hurt by any of your fellow traffickers."

Crossing his arms, he nodded with what seemed to be satisfaction. "Have you heard of a woman in this business by the name of Lilith?"


	12. A Mother's Promise

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**So, when I posted Chapter 11 there were some issues going on with Fanfiction that were causing problems. I hope you were able to read it! You'll for sure want to because you don't want to miss it as it has important details that play a large role in this one. Thank you very much for the reviews, guys!**

Pacing anxiously, Penelope couldn't stop her tears from flowing. Somehow Lilith had taken her daughter, her daughter who she should have been safe from everything like this. She couldn't believe how grown up she was. She looked well-adjusted, healthy, like she had a good life. She knew Derek would give her one. It made her wonder though if he'd remarried.

Through the years the thought came up. She wondered if her husband believed she was dead. She wanted desperately for him to be happy, and if he was married to another woman, she wouldn't blame him. But even if he was happy, even if he was happy with someone else, Elia recognized Penelope as her mother. She knew who she was.

_Stay calm, _she repeated over and over in her head like it was her mantra. _You'll get her out_. _You'll figure out something._

"Penelope, what are you doing?"

Penelope's head snapped up and to the source of the voice. It was the girl, perhaps twenty or around it, in the cage beside her. It was Sally, the girl whose name Lilith thought was boring. Her fingers were linked through the chain link, and she was staring at Penelope in shock. She'd never seen her so active and was more than slightly curious why she was crying and displaying emotion.

"What?" she mumbled, absentminded.

"I asked what you were doing?" she whispered. "You're acting insane."

Penelope barked a bitter laugh. "After how long I've been here in this shithole, don't you think it's a little odd I'm only just _now _going a little crazy?" Choking on a cry, she slid to the floor, leaning her back against the fence beside where her neighbor's fingers were. "Lilith found my daughter," she wept. "She found her, and she brought her here. She brought her here, and I don't know what she's going to do to her."

"You have a daughter?" Sally murmured. Penelope bit her lip and nodded, choking on a sob. "I had no idea. What's her name?"

"Elia," she whispered hoarsely. "Her name is Elia."

Sally was sympathetic as she spoke. "I'm sorry, Penelope," she whispered.

"I never knew her," Penelope went on, her spirit completely shattered by fear. "They took me when she was six months old. I never got to see her walk and take her first steps, I didn't get to hear her first words, I - I…" She couldn't continue; sobs just poured from her mouth.

"Did you ever…did you ever get pregnant…" Sally gulped audibly before she went on. "Did you you ever get pregnant _here_? Like, in any of the years after you were taken?"

Penelope sniffled and shook her head. "No," she whispered. "I couldn't get pregnant after I had Elia. I had to have an emergency C-section, and things went so wrong they had to tie my tubes." She coughed, her breathing speeding up as the sounds of her struggled breaths filled the room. "I think about my family every day, but I never, _never _wanted to meet her here." Shaking her head, she bit her lip. "I didn't want my baby to ever see me like this."

"She knew who you were," Sally murmured, figuring it out. "I bet she wanted to meet you so bad, and no matter what you look like, it made her feel sort of complete. I never knew my dad, but I always imagined that's what it would be like if I met him."

"I wanted to meet her, too!" Penelope cried. "But not like this. I don't care if she feels complete now. I want her safe and back with Derek. This destroyed me, who I was. I don't want her to be torn apart the way I was."

"Hey. Look at me." Penelope turned and saw Sally sticking her fingers through. She nodded to them for Penelope to take. With heavy limbs, Penelope took her hand. "Your husband is looking for her. He'll find her, and he'll get us all out."

Penelope smiled sadly through her tears at Sally's pointless optimism. She learned a long time ago that it was pointless to hope. With all her heart she believed he had looked for her, but seventeen years would kill anyone's spirit. He would never find her; people like Lilith made sure of that.

"No," she whispered. "He won't."

A rattling on the cage drew their attention away from each other. "Bonding are we, ladies?" an amused voice snipped. Fynn was leering down at them, a sneer covering his face. "You venting about your baby that we picked up, doll?"

Releasing Sally's fingers, Penelope rose to her feet and went to stand in front of Fynn. She linked her fingers in the chain link of her fence and shook it. "Stay away from her!" she hissed.

Fynn chuckled. He leaned in close to her so his scalding breath was on her frozen cheek. "Oh, believe me," he whispered. "If your little girl isn't what Lilith is looking for, I'll be sure to be pay her a little visit. I'm sure she'd love a piece of me. She's got a nice little body on her. Boys must be all over her, hands going everywhere. That's what I would do to her…and so much more."

Anger filled her chest cavity, and Penelope spat in his face. "If you lay a finger on my daughter, I will make sure you stop breathing for good," she growled. The former Penelope, the one who existed before she was taken, disappeared entirely at that moment. Fynn's words brought out a beast in her that she never knew existed. She wanted to believe her real self was buried inside her somewhere, but Fynn threatening Elia snapped something in her. "I'm not bluffing, you bastard. Not at all."

Wiping her saliva from his face, Fynn's face flashed, and he unlocked her cage. He slammed his way in and backed her into a corner, taking a swing at her. Anticipating it already, she ducked and slammed her palm into his nose with a sudden burst of strength. Over her years of trying to fight off the men she was sold to, she'd taught herself how to hit them where it would hurt. The roar that escaped Fynn's mouth was loud and filled with agony. She knew she'd landed the blow when blood was flowing through his fingers.

She was satisfied, but she knew to expect him to strike back. This time his reflexes were much faster and prepared, and he struck her in the jaw. Blood filled her mouth as she bit down on her tongue. Sharp pain shot through her, and she groaned. She spit the blood out of her mouth and wiped some of the blood that dribbled down her chin. Before she could react anymore, Fynn's hands wrapped his hands around her neck. He shoved her back against the chain link and clamped his hands down, cutting her air off. Her lungs burned with the desire for air, and she clawed at his hands for him to release her.

"Stop!" Sally's voice cried in the background. "Let her go!"

"Fynn! Enough!" Fynn didn't release her, even as Brutus shouted at him. "Fynn, let her go. Lilith was specific: don't touch her!"

Only when Brutus mentioned Lilith's name did Fynn's hands unclamp from Penelope's throat. She stumbled to her knees, clutching her throat as she choked in air. "Bitch needs to keep her mouth shut," he growled. "She spit in my face."

"Go to hell," she managed weakly. She looked up in Brutus' direction, and when she did she saw her daughter in his grasp. Her heart soared that she looked untouched. She had a gag in her mouth, but her eyes were wide and frightened at her mother's face.

"What do you have the girl for?" Fynn asked, stalking toward Elia and leaning in close to her face.

Penelope bristled. "Stay away from her," she snapped, attempting to rise to her feet. Her head was spinning so much that she stumbled down to her knees again.

"Lilith said to leave her with this one," Brutus answered bluntly in his usual manner. He shoved Elia inside and towards Penelope. Fynn was ready to protest, but Brutus cut him off before he could say a word. "Don't say a word. Lilith's orders were to leave her here, so that's what we're doing." Glaring at him, he added, "I don't care how much you hate her. Go clean your fucking face up."

Both men stalked off down the hallway, Fynn complaining the whole time. As soon as they were locked back in, Elia hastily removed the gag from her mouth and rushed to Penelope's side. "Sit back against the fence," she murmured, guiding her mother backwards. Penelope groaned in pain, her eyes closed as she attempted to push it to the back of her mind. "Hold still."

A soft piece of cloth touched Penelope's. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Elia had taken off her sweater and was using it to mop up the blood on her face. She shook her head, meeting her daughter's eyes. "Don't waste it on me," she croaked. "It's freezing in here."

Elia shook her head stubbornly. "No," she insisted, continuing to use her sweater as a rag. "You're hurt."

"It's not as bad as it looks," Penelope lied. "I've had worse." That wasn't a lie.

Elia looked her straight in the eye. There was a sadness there that she knew by heart. It was the same grief that filled her heart everyday when she thought of Derek and Elia. It was the soreness in her heart that consumed her when her family came to her mind. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't know they would do this to you. I shouldn't have made a grab for them."

"It's hardly your fault," Penelope said fiercely. "They don't like me here. I'm their worst one." She laughed bitterly and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to banish the thoughts of the pain once more. She opened her eyes when it became bearable for a moment. Elia was still looking at her sadly. Growing serious, she took Elia's hand gently. She smiled. "You called me _Mom_," she murmured. Ignoring everything else — pain, Lilith, where they were — she allowed her heart to warm for a moment.

Elia sat cross-legged beside her and held her hand. "Of course I did," she said. "That's who you are. Dad's been telling me that since I can remember."

Penelope's eyes filled with tears at the mention of Derek. She missed her husband every single day. Her ears wished everyday to hear his voice, and her body wanted to be wrapped in his arms. Every part of her longed for him. She sniffled. "Is your father happy?" she asked in a hoarse whisper.

Her daughter was quiet for a long moment. "No," she finally answered. "He hasn't ever been." Hearing the words leave Elia's mouth broke Penelope's heart, and she bent her head. A small cry came from her mouth. Never in a million years did she want Derek to suffer. Elia glanced sideways at Penelope and squeezed her hand. "He's going to find us." She nodded, sure of herself. "He's looking for us. Him and everyone else." She paused. "Just like he's been looking for you since you disappeared."

Looking over at Elia, Penelope was shocked. "He…he what?" He hadn't given up? Surely he would have tried to move on. Seventeen years was a long time, too long to be grieving. Then again, when she thought about it, she would probably do the same if she were in his place. Their bond went deeper than most did.

Elia nodded. "I only found out a few weeks ago," she said. "But he's been doing it." Tears filled her eyes. "And he will. We're both going home."

"I promise you that I'll get you out of here," Penelope vowed, moving off the topic of Derek to avoid the pain in her chest. It was becoming too strong, and she couldn't have it crippling her when she needed to be developing a plan to get Elia out. "You're going to get home to him."

"No. I won't…but _we _will."

XXXXX

Derek stared without words at the steaming cup of coffee on the table in front of him. In his hand he grasped Elia's phone. He moved his eyes to the electric green with blue rhinestone case, fury raging through him like a hurricane. Whoever it was that had taken his daughter was going to wish they were dead before he could get his hands on them.

"You should eat something, Morgan," Sanders said. "I can get you something."

"I can't possibly think about _food _right now," he snarled, not tearing his gaze from Elia's phone. After a moment, he shook his head and closed his eyes tightly. Opening them again, he looked up at Sanders. "I'm - I'm sorry, Sanders." Gulping, he set the phone down. "I just want to find Elia."

She nodded and sat down beside him. "I understand," she said. "Hold tight. JJ and Reid will have info for us, and we'll find the bastards who took her."

"That's if taking Elia is connected to Kelinski," he said gruffly. Placing his head in his hands, he forced himself to breathe in deeply. He needed to stay in control. Even Sanders placing a hand on his shoulder wasn't bringing him back to reality though. His mind was racing with the memory of Elia being pulled backwards into the van. It had been several hours now, but it felt like she'd been gone years. The time dragged by to the point where he felt like he was slowly being drawn and quartered.

He needed to find his daughter. Otherwise he would go crazy.

"Guys," JJ said as she and Reid walked towards the main table. She looked for Hotch. When she didn't find him, she cocked a brow at Sanders. "Where's Hotch?"

"He's wrapping up with the parents of Elia's friends," Seaver reported, coming up to the table with one of the agents in her task force. "Kyle Porter's family went to Orlando, which is why he decided to go on this trip. And to make matters worse, storms are keeping flights grounded, so we don't know when they'll be able to get here."

Reid shook his head. "He wouldn't go anywhere even if his family was here," he commented. "He's too focused on Elia." He looked at Derek's face as he met his eyes and nodded. "He cares about El, Morgan. He may have come on the trip, but he adores her. I spent time with him."

Derek merely grunted. The feelings a boy held for his daughter was hardly what was on his mind.

"Sorry about the wait," Hotch said, coming back to join them. "In addition to getting those kids back to their parents, I was meeting someone who's going to help us."

"Who?" Derek managed weakly.

"You really didn't think I'd sit by the sidelines on this one, did you?"

Everyone snapped their head in the direction of the familiar voice. Following behind Hotch was none other than David Rossi. He looked short of breath, like he'd run up a hill of gravel to get here rather than take a plane. All of them breathed a sigh of relief, save for Derek. He couldn't do anymore than stare at his friend and his daughter's godfather blankly.

Rossi strode to Derek's side and clapped him on the shoulder. "We're gonna get her back, Derek," he said. Derek didn't look up at him, and Rossi looked about at everyone else, concern written on his face. Through his peripheral vision, Derek caught sight of JJ shaking her head. She was telling Rossi there was no point in trying to tell him that; nothing was bringing him out of his panic mode.

"Hotch has briefed me a bit," Rossi finally said. "What do we have from this Nikolai Kelinski so far?" Though his eyes remained glued elsewhere, Derek listened intently to every word, his eardrums holding onto them like they were rays of light two miles beneath the ground.

JJ grimaced, crossing her arms over her chest. "We're looking for a woman," she said. "Her name is Lilith Todd." She looked to Seaver. "Is that a name you've ever heard come up in any of your investigations in New York?"

Seaver frowned and shook her head. "Never. Not even the first or the surname out of order."

JJ shrugged. "Well, that's at least the name Kelinski and his fellow traffickers know her by. Considering her line of work, fake names might be a necessity."

"What exactly is her line of work?" Derek growled.

"She's a ring leader," Reid said. "An incredibly powerful one. Her ring is one of two like Kelinski's in New York City that buys, sells, and trades women for sex trafficking. Or at least the particular type that operates the way these people do."

Running his hands through his gray hair, Rossi frowned. "So we have a woman in charge of a particularly violent brand of sex rings," he repeated back. "It's not exactly a common occurrence, but not outside of the realm of possibility. What else did he say about her?"

This was when Reid and JJ gulped simultaneously. They exchanged glances nervously as if debating who was going to speak next. Derek grew impatient with their game of stares and slammed his fist down on the table, causing everyone to look at him with shock. Gritting his teeth, he said, "What else did he say?"

"Lilith's ring is one of the more…_awful _ones," JJ managed, choosing her words with care and precision. "She's ruthless in her business deals, and the clientele she serves is vicious. Men go to her when they want to spend thousands of dollars. It's…it's the elite of their rings on the East Coast. She charges the most money of any of them because they have no limits on them. Which in turn means they dump bodies quite often."

Hotch frowned. "If Kelinski isn't a part of her ring, he's a part of the other one," he said. "That much we know. But if they're not the same ring, how would he know anything about the bodies Lilith is dumping?"

"They team up on dumping," Reid clarified. "If Kelinski's people have to get rid of a body, they usually leave one with one with Lilith's so they can confuse law enforcement. It's a mutual agreement his boss worked out with her."

Rising to his feet, Derek began to pace all at once, running his hands over the expanse of his head and down the back of his neck. "What the hell does any of that have to do with my daughter or the _twelve _girls who had the blood drained from their bodies?" he snapped. His voice was so sharp it pierced through the air like a sword. "What did Kelinski say about why girls like Elia are being killed?"

JJ's face paled. "That's something we don't know, and neither does Kelinski," she murmured. "All they know is that a few times a year she hires a few people to go hunt for a girl. If she's a virgin, she keeps them; if not, she puts them in her ring or sells them. Kelinski's been in his current ring for four years, so he's dumped the majority of the girls on the list."

"So we know she's keeping Elia," Sanders said. "Do we know how long?"

"He was genuinely surprised why she would take another girl so soon after Veronica Drake," JJ continued. "She's taken them once or twice a year since Kelinski has known about her. This is way too soon." She shook her head. "Guys, he doesn't know anything to help give us an idea of why she's doing this to those girls, but he's scared of her. Whoever this woman is, she's vicious, and even a man who hates women as much as Kelinski is afraid of her."

"What can he tell us about her appearance-wise?" Rossi asked. "If she's making a lot of money, maybe she has a taste for the finer things."

Reid began to run through the list. "She's apparently beautiful, and she's obsessed with staying that way. Kelinski says he sees her looking in the mirror constantly, and the girls she gets have to be beautiful as well so they don't cast a poor reflection on her. We sat him down with a sketch artist to get us an idea of what she looks like. He has no idea where she sets up shop, though. They always meet at neutral locations where business isn't conducted. The only one who knows where she's set up is Kelinski's ringleader."

As the conversation continued on, Derek's mind began to race, and he started to shake with anxious tremors. He felt like his whole body was a live wire, ready to explode into a shower of lethal sparks at any second. He found his thoughts drawn to Penelope. Nikolai Kelinski had more knowledge about her disappearance than anyone, and all the details — the scant few there were — he'd given were completely correct, spot on. He knew her name, he knew Derek's name, he knew who Elia was and how old she was when Penelope was taken. He knew where she was.

Or at least he had known. It was unclear if he was lying about his knowledge of her whereabouts now.

Derek knew, though. He knew deep within himself that Penelope was still alive. What her life consisted of now he didn't dare think about. But despite his best efforts, Kelinski's words flooded his head, invading his thoughts. If what they were given about this woman, Lilith's group was true, and Penelope was indeed in one of the rings like it…Derek shuddered at the thought.

Knowing his daughter was in the clutches of the most violent of the leaders and that his wife was allegedly still being passed around by the rings made him physically ill. He felt like a failure, stiffened by an all-consuming fear he'd never felt before, not even with Buford and the demons he still carried from his abuse. He needed to find his family…fast. First Elia, then they would find her mother. He didn't care if Hotch, Rossi, Reid, even JJ had given up on her and were sure she was dead; he was going to find his wife. He had his gut and his heart telling him she was alive.

He knew to trust those when it came to Penelope. He'd learned it long ago.

_I'm out here, Baby Boy…you'll find her…you'll find me…_

Again, he found himself hearing her voice in his head. He didn't know if he was imagining it consciously to make himself feel better, or if he was going crazy. Either way, it was her voice. He was going to hang onto it, every syllable, every fluctuation of intonation.

"Morgan?"

Snapping out of his daze, Derek's head snapped in Sanders direction. "Yeah?" he choked. The thoughts of his girls were clogging even his ability to speak, crippling his voice box.

"We're calling Tina," she said. Her voice became stern. "I know you're upset, and I know you don't like her, but she's going to help get your daughter back. I'm telling you right now: shut up and let her do her job."

Derek didn't even have the energy to argue or snap. Everything was channeling into his desire for Elia and Penelope safe and sound. He nodded blankly. As Hotch was dialing Valentina, Rossi approached him and grasped his shoulder. Even looking at his old friend's show of support could bring him any comfort. "We're going to get her back," Rossi vowed. "We'll bring the bastards to justice, and you'll have your girl back."

"_Girls_," he corrected sullenly. Rossi looked confused. "Kelinski took Penelope. He'll be my key to getting her back."

Rossi's face softened, but Derek could read the pity that was written plainly there. He didn't believe Penelope was out there.

"Any more news on Elia?" Valentina Gregory said frantically in greeting, her voice cutting through the air as she answered Hotch's call.

"There may be something concrete if you can run a search on someone," Hotch replied swiftly. "Get us everything you can on Lilith Todd. I mean it, Gregory. Every detail. Medical records, bank records, criminal records, family history. Everything. Hack something if you need to." His last statement told Derek his boss was going to do everything to get Elia back, too…even if it meant breaking the protocols he so regularly stuck by.

She hesitated. "Sir, I could get into a lot of trouble if I try to get into medical records or —"

Derek interrupted frantically. "Gregory, _please_!" he begged. "I need my daughter back! This woman is the only lead. I will personally vouch for you and take responsibility if you do this for me." He paused and inhaled deeply to get his breathing back under control. "I know I'm not…nice to you, but I need you to do this for me…for Elia. _Please_!"

She was silent a moment, but replied, "Of course, sir. I'll start now. I'll get back to you ASAP." Then she hung up, leaving the rest of them in silence.

"Kelinski said one other thing that might help us identify her," Reid added after a long moment.

"What is it?" Derek whispered, bile rising in his throat once more. This time he managed to keep it down, though. He couldn't be vomiting anymore; Hotch might take him off the case for fear he couldn't handle it.

"Lilith is overly fond of crimson…blood red crimson."


	13. A Doctor's Tale

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**I apologize for the long delay in posting. My first semester of my sophomore year of college has begun, so I'm busy busy :) Thank you so much everyone for your reading and reviewing! I appreciate it a lot, and your patience with me. This chapter here is going to be all Derek POV with case stuff…I hope I make the case sound somewhat realistic haha! Please let me know if you liked it, and happy reading!**

Two hours after Gregory called the first time, the BAU and Seaver's group were working toward getting as much information gathered as possible. Gregory had texted Sanders to let her know she was working as fast as she possibly could. Nothing was fast enough for Derek, though. All he could think about was how Elia was faring. Was she holding strong, or was she frightened beyond belief? How was she managing against the horrors of Lilith Todd's ring, and what was happening to her while she was there? More than once JJ or Reid attempted to get him to eat or drink something, but all he could do was fret and pace. He needed to find Elia; that was all that mattered.

"Derek, why don't you —" JJ began at one point, holding out a bottle of water for him.

Glaring at her, he shook his head. "Not now, JJ," he growled. He didn't mean to snap at her. She was only trying to help, after all. There wasn't anything he could find within himself to be pleasant with people. Shaking his head, he stomped away to a room down the hall, pissed as hell at the whole world. He slammed the door shut and sank down onto the couch. This was a room where officers brought families to deliver bad news. He knew because he had brought people here, too. He was one of those people who delivered the terrible news.

Who would have thought he would be sitting here twice, once seventeen years ago and now.

Digging into his pocket, he pulled out his badge and took out the wrinkled photo of Penelope he kept there. A burning sensation sprouted behind his eyes again as he stared at his wife's face. "I failed her, Baby Girl," he choked out. "I'm sorry."

As he stared at the photo, the door opened. Derek didn't even look up. "Not _now_, JJ," he muttered. "Unless it's Gregory calling about —"

"It's Kyle."

Derek looked up and put the photo of Penelope back into his badge, pocketing it. He regarded the young man with caution, narrowing his eyes. "What do you want?" Kyle was quite literally the definition of a "golden boy," with his glittering yellow hair and glittering blue eyes. He didn't know if he could trust him with Elia. It was him, after all, who had invited her on the trip.

Kyle, looking uncomfortable, sat in the chair across from Derek. Gulping, he ran his hands through his hair. "Mr. Morgan, I wanted to tell you…" His voice trailed off, and he averted his eyes.

"What?" Derek snapped.

Taking a deep breath, Kyle said, "I wanted to tell you I really care about Elia. I shouldn't have invited her on the trip. I didn't think this would be dangerous."

Rising to his feet, Derek shook his head in disgust. "Don't," he growled. "I'm not in the mood."

"Mr. Morgan, I know you don't trust anyone with Elia, but I wanted you to know I do care about her," Kyle went on bravely. He stood so he was looking at Derek straight on. The boy was as tall as Derek. "She told me how you're her best friend, and I can tell how much she loves you. And I want you to know I want her to be safe, too."

Derek paused for a moment, but in the end left the room, uninterested in engaging in a conversation with Kyle. However, despite his swift departure, Kyle's words rang in his ears. He could tell the boy did care for Elia, and that was a vast change from what he saw with his daughter's other friends. That was the last thing he wanted to think about, though. There was time for it later.

As he went back down the hall and into the main room, Hotch was waiting to corner him. His arms were crossed over his chest, and a stern frown was covering his face. Apparently he'd seen Derek storming out on Kyle's attempt at talking to him. Derek merely glared at his unit chief, not in the mood for a lecture. "What?" he snarled.

"You _know_ what," Hotch retorted without missing a beat. "You need to stop lashing out at everyone. You're dangerously close to being treated like any other victim's parent and getting your ass stuck in a waiting room where we will give you minimal information."

"That boy is the reason Elia came here in the first place!" Derek protested.

Hotch shook his head. "He had no idea this would happen. He's also the only one of her friends who gives a damn that she was taken. You can_not_ blame him for this. The only people who are to blame for this are the ones who took her."

Rubbing his head, Derek cursed. "No," he grumbled, clenching his fists. "It's my fault. _ I _smothered her, _I _made her feel like she was trapped and not getting to live a normal life. If I had given her more freedom, this never would have happened."

"You can't do that either," Hotch insisted. "This is _not _your fault. You can't blame yourself for this, or anything else." His eyes indicated there was something he wasn't saying.

Derek narrowed his eyes. "What aren't you saying?"

Hotch looked like he was pondering whether or not to say it, but in the end, he nodded. "You blame yourself for everything when it comes to Elia or Penelope. You blame yourself for Elia not having a mother, you blame yourself for not being able to find Penelope, you blame —"

Holding up his hand, Derek stopped him. "Stop," he snapped sharply. "Just…stop." He wasn't intent on having his boss profile him. Everything Hotch was saying was true, but he refused to stand there and have it all laid out in front of him at once. "Don't fucking profile me ever again, Hotch," he warned.

Before Hotch could respond, his phone rang. He glanced at it and motioned for everyone to join him at the table. Placing his phone on the table, he hit the speaker phone button. "Gregory," he said swiftly. "What have you got for us on Lilith Todd? Anything useful?" Derek leaned, resting his palms on the table. He was anxiously awaiting the technical analyst's answer.

"You wouldn't think a woman who leads a vicious sex ring would have so much information on file," Gregory groused in disgust. "The chick has been documented quite a bit."

"Like what?" Derek growled. He ignored the stern looks from his team.

"I've sent everything I've found to your tablets, so follow along with me as I give youth rundown. So, the most important detail I've found is that around the same time the killings of the young girls, our Madame Todd's mother _and _boyfriend died."

JJ bobbed her head in a nod. "The stressor then," she said. "But why exsanguination as an MO?" She frowned. "What were their causes of death?"

"Her mother, Samantha Todd, died of cancer. The boyfriend, Harry Steinbeck, died of a heroin overdose." Gregory made a humming noise, and they knew there was more coming. "Now, there is something odd about both these deaths. See, the boyfriend had _no _history whatsoever of drug use. He may have come from a very affluent family and had some strange checks coming in from out of country bank accounts, but there is no evidence to suggest _why _that money was coming in." She snorted. "Clearly something illegal."

Rossi stroked his chin. "What if the boyfriend was the original ringleader?" he mused. "If Lilith is as violent as Kelinksi says, and the boyfriend had no history of drugs, it's possible she killed him so she could take over. Her desire for control over people would be a driving force in wanting to take over. If he was in the way, she'd want to take him out."

Derek coughed uncomfortably. "What about her mother?" he asked.

"This one is probably the weirder of the two," Gregory said. "See, Lilith was present at the time of her mother's death. Now, I made a call or two to find out the circumstances of her death, but everyone was eerily silent about it, like it's a dirty little secret."

"We need to talk to whoever was there then," Derek growled. "The doctor who declared the mother dead or the nurses on hand might be able to tell us what happened. Seeing that death could have caused the stressor we're looking for." He frowned. "Gregory, what's the doctor's name?"

There was a short pause. "Um, we have a Dr. Kathleen Harrison on file for Samantha Todd's case."

Reid nodded. "I agree with Morgan," he said. "We need to see what happened there."

"Yes, I'd agree with that," Hotch said. Directing his gaze towards Derek, he gave a slight tilt of his head. "I'm letting you go, but you need to keep it in line. Am I clear?" He waited for Derek's nod before looking away. He didn't appear convinced, but he also knew Derek was going to go whether he liked it or not. The look in his eyes told Hotch as much.

"What do you need me to do now, sir?" Gregory asked.

Hotch glanced back at Derek, and he nodded once. "Gregory, look into every bit of financial history on Steinbeck you can find. I want to know if he has any known connections to anyone. Crosscheck with the tech for Seaver's team and see if you find any names that match."

"On it in a flash!" Gregory chirped before hanging up.

"Reid!" Morgan barked grabbing his leather jacket. "Let's go!"

Reid trailed behind him, gasping for breath as he tried to catch up. "Morgan, it's four o'clock in the morning!" he tried. "The doctor won't be there. It's too early."

"Then we'll page her," Derek growled. "This is a federal investigation, the hospital will make time for us." As he strode toward the door of the precinct, ignoring all others in his path, he heard his name being called.

"Mr. Morgan!"

Halting midstride, Derek rolled his eyes and ground his teeth. It was Kyle again. He counted to ten, then counted another ten so he could hold himself together without unraveling in a ball of anger. Rubbing his face, Derek turned to see the boy who held his daughter's heart. The boy looked exhausted, his eyes bloodshot and his hair mussed up. His appearance rivaled how Derek was feeling. Despite his initial rage at Kyle for being the reason Elia decided to leave, he stared at him without an ounce of anger in his gaze. Kyle stopped in front of him and Reid. His eyes were dancing with anxiety, and he looked at Derek with a desperation that was all to familiar. It was the same feeling of utter hopelessness that he himself was feeling. How had Elia never told him about this boy? It was clear Kyle cared about her.

"Mr. Morgan, I want to help," Kyle breathed. "I want to get El back." He wrung his hands together nervously. "I know you don't like me very much, but I want to help you get her back."

Derek stared at him for a moment. Exhaustion was etched into the young man's features, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he hadn't slept since leaving Quantico. Above all though, he saw fear, fear for Elia. Softening at the state Kyle was in, Derek put his hand on Kyle's shoulder. Hotch was right; he couldn't attack this boy, nor could he blame himself. Going to war wouldn't get Elia back.

"If you want to help her, get some sleep," he muttered, keeping his voice neutral so he wouldn't crumble down to a pile of sawdust. Kyle opened his mouth to protest, but Derek shook his head. "I will call you if anything happens. Go get some sleep on the couch." He nodded to the waiting room Kyle had been in.

Kyle observed Derek carefully, but he saw the sincerity. Nodding, he turned around and stumbled tiredly to the waiting room and sat down once more. Reid glanced at Derek and nodded approvingly. "That was better," he said as they started out the door.

Derek snorted as they went into the brisk early morning New York air. The sounds of the city raged around them, and Derek yanked the SUV door open to hop in. He could talk with Reid about this later; manners were the last thing on his mind. Right then, all he wanted to do was get the doctor to open up to whatever horrifying secret lay around the death of Samantha Todd. It could be what led them to finding Elia.

"What are the directions to the hospital?" Derek asked, forcing himself to find an eerie calm within himself where he could save his daughter. He clenched his hands around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned to the color of ash.

Sighing, Reid pulled up his tablet to give directions. "Head down the street and turn left."

XXXXX

"What's so urgent that you paged me in at this time in the morning?" Dr. Kathleen Harrison asked her head nurse tiredly as she strode into the wing of her hospital where she worked. Both Derek and Reid stood up from where they had been waiting for Dr. Harrison to arrive. The nurse nodded in their direction as they pulled their badges out and presented them. Arching a brow, Dr. Harrison crossed her arms over her chest. "Gentlemen. This is something that couldn't wait 'til business hours, I'm assuming."

Derek shook his head. "No, it isn't. We need to know everything about an incident that occurred five years ago. An incident regarding the death of Samantha Todd."

Dr. Harrison's eyes went wide for a moment. Her mouth formed an "o," and she nodded. "You should come with me," she said. "This isn't something to talk about out here." She motioned for them to follow her, and they went along the hall to an empty waiting room. As they went, Reid and Morgan exchanged glances. Clearly there was something more to this story. If her reaction was anything to go off of, then whatever took place was clearly important to the profile.

Once the door was closed behind the doctor, Derek opened his mouth to speak. However, before any words could leave his mouth, Dr. Harrison spoke. Her voice was bitter. "What do you need from me?" she demanded. "Make it quick."

Reid and Morgan exchanged a glance once more. It was obvious there was something off about this case that made the doctor nervous to talk about it. "We're here to ask you what happened with Samantha Todd's death that might have —" Morgan began.

"No," the doctor interrupted. "You didn't come to ask me about Samantha. You came to ask me about Lilith." She stared evenly at Derek, unblinking.

Fists clenching, Derek crossed his arms over his chest. His jaw hardened. "What do you know about her?"

Dr. Harrison sighed and sat down in one of the chairs. She urged them to sit as well. Derek did it without hesitation, awaiting the doctor's answer anxiously. "I knew the Todds well," she began, crossing her legs. "I was a family friend."

"_Was_?" Reid asked. "You're not friends with Lilith, even after her mother died?"

The doctor snorted. "Good Lord no," she said. "I tried for so many years when she was a child to get her to open up to me, to see that I could be an ally to her, but she…she refused. She was too proud."

"Why would you need to be an ally to her?" Derek ground out. "What was so wrong in her childhood that she needed someone other than her mother to be there for her?"

"The relationship between Samantha and Lilith was…strained, shall we say?" she went on. "Samantha, while my friend, was also a very harsh woman. She stressed the importance of Lilith looking beautiful and perfect at every moment. She needed to be in control of herself at all times. Lilith had to be the image of perfection. I mean, in addition to the social aspects and peer pressures of being beautiful, Samantha put…a _lot _of emphasis on physicality."

Reid frowned. "Did Samantha herself stay as beautiful as possible?"

Dr. Harrison nodded. "Oh, yes," she said. "Since we were children. And when we grew up she began using plastic surgery as often as possible. She was _obsessed _with appearing younger. She tried to get me to do it, too, but…" She pursed her lips and shook her head. "I didn't feel like I needed to."

"What happened that day that Samantha died?" Reid asked. Noticing the look on Dr. Harrison's face, his features softened. Whereas Derek was ready to shout until he got his answers, Reid could see the pain on the doctor's face as she tried to find the words. "We understand this must be a very difficult topic for you, but we wouldn't be asking you to bring it up if it weren't extremely important. If Lilith is who we're looking for, what happened the night her mother died could be the stressor that set her off."

The doctor hesitated still. Her face was chalk white, her eyes growing frightened. With trembling hands, she rubbed her face. "I was in there when it happened," she whispered hoarsely, her voice sounding as if it had been dragged through a field of broken glass. "Lilith was fluffing her mother's pillow for her. I didn't understand why she was being so gentle; their relationship was never anything like that. Samantha began coughing, and she —" Her voice cut off abruptly.

When she didn't continue, Derek couldn't control the rage boiling within him. "You have to tell us what happened, Doctor!" he growled. His features became desperate. He sat forward, and his hands clenched into fists. "Lilith has —"

"Samantha began coughing," Dr. Harrison said, cutting him off. "She coughed so hard that blood came out of her mouth. The blood fell on Lilith's hand, and she couldn't stop staring at it. I tried to get Lilith to leave the room, but she just stood there. She couldn't take her eyes off the blood." Shaking her head, she took a deep breath as if to cleanse herself of the words she just spoke. "Samantha died a few minutes after that, but Lilith…she just stared at the blood on her hand."

Reid's face lit up with recognition for a moment. Derek noticed, but as he opened his mouth to ask, Reid shook his head. "So you're saying she stared at the blood," he confirmed. "Did she do anything else?"

Dr. Harrison shook her head. "I lost track of her after the funeral," she said. "I tried to find her, but she dropped off the face of the earth." Her eyes left Reid's and moved to Derek's. She could tell there were personal reasons for the way he was acting. Arching a brow, she leaned forward, trying to see through his eyes what Lilith may have done. "She did something to you." It wasn't a question; she knew.

"She took my daughter," he answered, reading what the doctor was asking for without words.

The doctor was silent for a long moment. Derek could tell relaying the story to them had been taxing on her. She couldn't hold her head up any longer. Her head tilted forward so her chin was touching her chest. "I hope you get her back," she murmured. "Now I'm sorry for you — very sorry — but I need you to leave."

As they were leaving the room, Derek rubbed his face. Dr. Harrison's story revealed something, but he couldn't tell what. His brain was too muddled, too clouded with the fierce desire for everything to be over. He couldn't think straight. With shaking hands, he stopped in the hallway. He couldn't continue moving forward. Unsteadily, he fell against the wall and rubbed his sweaty forehead.

Reid stopped and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Do you think I'm alright?" he snapped. "Do I honestly look _alright_? We're dealing with a woman who drains the blood of her victims, is obsessed with beauty, and picks them solely because they are vulnerable girls who she can control." As he was breathing heavily, gasping for any piece of clean air his lungs could grasp, he caught sight of Reid's concentrated frown. "What? Why are you —"

Shaking his head, Reid pulled out his phone and began dialing a number, presumably Hotch's. His eyes met Derek's. They were frantic. "Morgan!" he said excitedly. "I — I think I know what's going on! I know what we're dealing with!"


	14. The Blood Countess

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry about the delay in publishing this. I'm very busy with school and the newspaper right now, so finding writing time is hard. I'm still committed to getting this one done for you guys, and I have the whole thing plotted out, so when I get time I'm going to get these out. Thanks for your patience!**

*****A quick note on the timeline: things are different from how the early show years work, so the details in Penelope's stories she tells are AU (i.e. the dating, Reid, etc.)**

"Tell me everything," Penelope coughed, rubbing her split lip. Her chin was resting against her chest, and she tried to raise it up to look at Elia. As her mother's hand reached out, Elia grasped it gently. Tears filled her eyes, and she moved closer to her mother's side.

Holding up her sweater, she wrapped it around Penelope's sagging shoulders. Her mother was shivering violently from the frigid air. Cold was an understatement for describing the temperature of the abandoned slaughterhouse, and every woman Elia had seen since arriving was in nothing but a satin shift. She hoped desperately her sweater might warm her mother some. She felt sorry for the others, but her mother was her priority.

Penelope attempted to shake her head. "N - no," she stammered. "You need it."

Elia shook her head vigorously, holding the sweater around Penelope's shoulders. "No," she insisted right back. "I don't." And it was true. She would rather see her mother feel some semblance of warmth than watch her shiver. To try and heat her blood up, Elia wrapped her arms around Penelope. Her mother was shaking, her skin ice cold and dry to the touch. Elia didn't want to think about how long it had been since the last time her mother had been warm. And based on the way she was tense at the physical contact, she didn't want to know how long it had been since someone had touched her without hurting her.

After a moment of silence, she readjusted the sweater on her mother's shoulders. Looking at Penelope from the corner of her eye, she tilted her head to the side. "You said to tell you everything. What did you mean?"

"I want to know about your life," Penelope murmured. Her body was still tense, and she was shaking in Elia's arms. "What do you do for fun, what do you want to do when you go to college, what…" Her voice trailed off as she trembled more violently. Adjusting her position, Elia managed to wrap her arms tighter around mother. A small, barely audible laugh bubbled out of Penelope's mouth. She wriggled slightly to remove the sweater, but Elia refused it.

"No," she croaked, tearful. She didn't want her mother to be cold any longer and seeing her trying to shake her help off broke her heart. "Keep it. _Please_."

Penelope shook her head. Her hair fell down the side of her face, the tips of the strands tickling Elia's forearm. However when Elia's arms tightened around her, she settled somewhat, as if recognizing her embrace from somewhere. Did it remind her of Derek? It was the only explanation. Elia's arms had never been around her.

"Tell me," she whispered. "Please. I want to know." Her fingers rested on one of Elia's wrists, coiling around it like wire.

Choking on tears, Elia breathed in deeply. Her voice was shaky as she spoke. "Anything," she murmured. Her voice came out scraggly, sounding like it was being dragged through a field of broken glass. "Anything you want."

A smile entered Penelope's voice. "It'll be nice to hear what really happened. I've thought about you every single day, but it's all my imagination. And now I get to hear it all."

"Dad did everything right," Elia whispered, her thoughts drifting toward Derek. The last time she had spoken with him, they were yelling at one another in the middle of the precinct. She didn't want Penelope knowing that and worrying; she forced her voice to remain calm. "He always told me the reason he knew how to understand me so well was, how he could know what to do to fix things when I was sad or upset, was because he knew _you_ so well."

Penelope smiled against Elia's chest. "We did know each pretty well," she whispered.

Tears streamed down Elia's face, and she sniffled before continuing. "When Aunt JJ had Liz, she —"

"JJ and Will had another baby after Henry?" Penelope asked.

"Yep. They had two," Elia explained. "Liz is ten, and Ingrid is six." She rubbed her tear-stained cheeks with her shoulder. "When Liz was born, Dad could tell I was having a bad day. I was really jealous because JJ was about to have a baby, and Dad warned me she was going to be busy with the baby so she wasn't going to be able to spend as much time with me. So when she had Liz, the principal called me out of class. Dad was waiting in the hall for me, and we spent the rest of the day together."

When Elia paused for a moment, Penelope spoke. Her voice was barely audible. "What did you do?"

"We went to get lunch and then to the beach. It was the middle of winter, but we went anyway and had a snowball fight." Elia smiled at the memory; it was etched in her brain by the sound of the waves and the freezing wind blowing from the day. "I remember him telling me that he knew I was frustrated that JJ was going to be busier, but no matter what she would always love me. In the end, I told him that I was okay if JJ was busier, just as long as _he _was never too busy for me. And he's always been here. _Always_." As she held her mother, the memory of her day at the beach with Derek tore at her heart, poking at her with tiny needles that were causing her to bleed all through her body. Was she ever going to see him again? A lump rose in her throat, and she choked on a cry.

Her mother patted her hand. "What is it?" Penelope murmured. "I want to hear more."

Swallowing hard, Elia managed to say, "I'm never going to see him again, am I?"

"Listen to me," Penelope began. She began to sit up so she could look Elia directly in the eye. Her mother's hands cupped her face, and she rested their foreheads together. Elia began to sob. Staying strong and holding her resolve wasn't working the way she wanted it to. Everything was crashing down on top of her, dumping her emotional baggage all over the concrete of the slaughterhouse. "You _are _going to see him again. He won't stop until he finds you. I know it. I know _him_."

Shaking her head, Elia sobbed harder. "He never found you!" she wept. "He looked and looked, but they kept you from us too well."

"Things are different when our children are the ones missing," Penelope told her. "He could function while I was gone because he had you. If he loses you…he would never recover. It's all he's going to do until he has you back."

Elia looked at her mother directly and saw the sincerity glistening behind her differing eyes: one swollen, purple lid and one fading yellow bruised lid. Her body began shaking uncontrollably, and she bit her lip. In the mere blink of an eye she'd known her mother, she was baffled at the amount of strength she was displaying. For the entirety of Elia's life, Penelope had been locked up in sex rings. She couldn't fathom what she had gone through, but she never would have guessed she would be this resilient. Her mother was the strongest woman she was ever going to meet; the fact she was sitting here proved that.

"Do you hear me?" Penelope murmured, wiping the tears from Elia's cheeks with her frozen hands. "You're getting out of here."

With trembling lips, Elia nodded. "What about you?" she asked quietly. "Why don't you say _we're _getting out of here?"

Penelope leaned forward and kissed Elia's forehead. The gesture, so obviously filled with her maternal love and desire to protect her, brought fresh tears to Elia's eyes. "Because you're more important," Penelope said. "My life doesn't matter anymore; yours means everything."

XXXXX

"Guys!" Reid cried, rushing back into the precinct. Dawn was creeping over the city, and the whole way back from the hospital Reid refused to divulge the information about who Lilith was. Now that they were back and reunited with the team, Derek wanted to know who the woman who had taken his daughter was emulating.

Derek's fists clenched into tight balls, and he glared at Reid. "This one here wouldn't tell me who this _bitch _is reminding him of," he spat.

"There's a reason for that," Reid returned evenly, going to the head of the table. He looked around at the rest of the team.

Rossi arched a brow, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. "What is it? What did you find out?"

"When we were talking with the physician who oversaw Samantha Todd's case, she told us how it went," Reid explained. "There's some history to them as well that we need to know; it's how I figured it out. As a child, Lilith had extreme pressures put on her to be beautiful and in control at all times. Well, this came into play later in Samantha's death. Lilith was fluffing her mother's pillows when Samantha started coughing blood. The blood landed on Lilith's hand, and she was mesmerized by it." He raised his brows. "Anyone see where I'm going with this?"

The whole table was staring at him incredulously. "No idea, Reid," Sanders said. "Spit it out." Her voice was impatient.

Before Reid could continue though, Rossi spoke up frantically. "Oh God," he said. "Tell me this isn't who I think it is."

"Who the fuck is it?" Derek demanded.

"Erzsébet Báthory," Reid explained. "She was a Hungarian countess in the seventeenth century who is hailed as the most prolific female serial killer of all time. Some say she may be the most prolific serial killer _period_. She had a list of over six hundred victims."

Sanders frowned. "Lilith Todd has only killed twelve girls."

"It's not the amount of victims that she has killed that is the worst part," Rossi growled. "It's the fact that Erzsébet Báthory killed six hundred plus girls, most of whom were virgins. And she…" He paused, choking on the lump in his throat. "She bathed in their blood. She thought it would keep her youthful."

Reid bit his lip. "The Blood Countess rumors are just that: rumors. There's no verifiable proof she actually did that. The legends keep her infamy alive, but there's no proof she bathed in the blood of virgins."

Derek felt sick to his stomach as he stared at Reid. "Regardless of if the rumors about a dead Hungarian countess are true or not," he began with a shaking voice, "_this_ woman is draining the blood of virgins and using it as a beauty product."

"The problems with her mother must have left her unstable enough that when she coughed blood on her it triggered her desire to look younger even more," Hotch said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Her mother's death was the stressor that caused her to kill, and once she started, the desire to look youthful took over and made it impossible for her to stop. And the fact that she has complete control over her victims is an added bonus for her."

"Her mother couldn't have been a virgin, though," JJ remarked. "Why not just kill all women, virgin or not?"

Reid shook his head. "Virgin blood in mythology and rituals is said to be quote-on-quote pure," he explained. "She could have taken one girl, and after finding out the victim was a virgin she realized she liked the look the blood left on her skin better. It's also possible she heard the legend about Countess Báthory and decided to emulate her."

Derek looked from team member to team member, observing their varying expressions of concern. His own face was stricken with fear at the thought of his daughter in the clutches of a woman who wanted her blood. He rubbed his face, anxiety racing through his blood and shaking his limbs. Wringing his trembling hands together, he cleared his throat and blinked.

_How could this have happened? _he thought to himself as he stared blankly at the faces of his BAU family. First Penelope had been taken, gone without a trace for seventeen years; now Elia was gone, taken by a maniac.

And he was useless to them. That small fact paralyzed him to the point he felt his limbs would harden to granite. His daughter's life was rolling on a Super 8 behind his eyelids. Memories of her as a child, toddling excitedly toward him as he reentered the house after a long case, memories of her getting help from JJ to pick out Homecoming dresses, memories of her concentrating on studying for the SATs.

Was he going to see Elia again, not just as a wisp of a memory in his mind?

As Derek stared at them all blankly, unmoving, he could faintly make out the ringing of the phone. Hotch leaned forward to press the speaker phone on. "Go ahead, Gregory," he said.

"Everyone hold onto your seats because I have just found some interesting information!" Gregory chirped.

Derek's head snapped to the phone. His eyes narrowed, and his palms began to sweat uncontrollably. Coughing, he sank into a chair and put his head in his hands. "What did you find, Gregory?" he choked out.

"_Well_…" Gregory drawled.

XXXXX

Penelope and Elia were huddled close together, attempting to stay warm in the biting arctic temperature of the slaughterhouse. She had no idea what time it was or how long it had been since Lilith had given her Elia, but none of it mattered. Time was nothing but a word to Penelope now that she had her daughter within reach. Merely the sound of Elia's voice was enough for her to forget everything of reality. After two decades of nothing to go on but her imagination, having Elia there made her feel more alive in a way she hadn't felt since she was taken from her.

After assuring Elia she would see Derek once more, Penelope proceeded to ask her everything about her life. Derek had raised their daughter beautifully. Everything Penelope was hearing was that her husband and her daughter were inseparable, like the only person each of them truly trusted was one another.

"He doesn't like any of my friends," Elia murmured. "It's frustrating, but…" She was quiet a moment. "But it doesn't matter because he's my _best_ friend." She laughed softly, as if pausing once more before saying more.

However, she didn't say anything. Penelope tilted her head to the side. "What? What is it?"

"I was just thinking that I'm going to _make _him like Kyle," Elia giggled. Glancing over at her mother and her raised eyebrow, she added, "He's a boy…that I like."

Penelope smiled. "Oh?" she asked. It didn't surprise her that Derek didn't like their daughter dating a boy, no matter how sweet he might be. She always knew he would spoil their children. When they were told Elia would be their only child, she knew the spoiling would only intensify and his already protective nature would become more fierce. "Tell me about Kyle."

Elia stubbornly shook her head. "Enough about me. I want to know about you."

Penelope blinked. "Why do you want to know about me?" she asked.

"Well…you're my mom," Elia said simply. "Aunt JJ or Uncle Dave will tell me something every now and then, but they don't know you like Dad does." Her face became forlorn, distant and lost in thought. "He goes into a funk for a few days if I ask something, so I don't."

Staring ahead blankly, Penelope felt her muscles relax for the first time in many years. What did she tell her daughter? There was nothing that came to her brain. So much of her was forgotten, scattered across the country in all the places she'd been. The only parts of her she had kept firmly in place were the memories of Derek, her BAU family, and baby Elia. All thoughts of herself were faded like the corners of an old photograph.

Elia's fingers entangled with Penelope's, drawing her back to reality. Her head jerked in the direction of her daughter beside her at the squeeze of her daughter's hand. "Please tell me something," Elia said. Tears swam on the surface of her eyes. "I don't know you at _all_."

Swallowing hard, Penelope nodded. "Okay," she managed. Thinking back into her past, flipping through it like a history book, she tried to remember any happy memory she could. One in particular jumped to mind. "I've got something." She took a deep breath, calling the memory to her tongue. "I didn't join the FBI voluntarily; I was actually caught hacking, and instead of throwing me in jail, Hotch gave me a job. When I was in the interrogation room in San Jose —"

"You were in California?" Elia interrupted excitedly.

Penelope nodded. "I grew up there. And I learned to hack there. I got good at it, and I got caught. And when I was in the interrogation room and Hotch was telling me what my options were, the door opened and this…" Her voice trailed off as her lips quirked into a small smile, a true smile that hadn't graced her face in years. The memory of the first time she laid eyes on Derek was somehow making her feel warmer in the icebox of a building.

"_This_ what?" Elia murmured. Penelope had been silent too long for her daughter's taste. She was impatient to hear the story.

"This _guy_ entered the interrogation room," Penelope breathed, picturing the scene clearer than she had in years. "He had my bag with him after they'd taken my phone and computer away from me. Hotch told him he could unlock my hand from the handcuff, and after Hotch left, he unlocked me." She paused. "And I was super bitter, so I called him _Eyebrows_." Another pause; she had to laugh. The sound of her laugh was foreign to her; it had been so long since she'd heard it. "I called him _Eyebrows_, and I asked him if there was a 'Men of the FBI' calendar with the whole thing full of him. And, of course, he didn't respond. He looked at me and welcomed me to the team.

They were quiet for a long time before Elia spoke. "You met Dad in an _interrogation_ room?" she breathed in fascination. "Like a _real _interrogation room where he will scare the shit out of criminals?"

Tears filled Penelope's eyes. Holding it together as best she could, she nodded. "And that's not all. There were a couple of weeks before I actually started working with the BAU, and to really leave everything behind, I dyed my hair back to its original blonde and got a new wardrobe. I became an entirely different person. And on my first day at the BAU, I was getting my things gathered and ready to go to my new office…and someone yelled out, 'Gomez!' Well, I thought they might have been talking about someone else named Gomez, so I kept on walking. But then…"

She stopped to force her voice out of her throat. Scalding tears trickled down her cheeks. Could she say this? Would she be able to get these two simple words to leave her mouth?

"What did he say?" Elia murmured, breaking the silence. Her fingers squeezed Penelope's hand, wordlessly stating she understood the pain.

Taking a deep breath, she bent her head and whispered the name: "_Baby Girl." _She sniffled. "He didn't recognize me because of the hair, and no one remembered my name."

"He called you _Baby Girl_?" Elia asked in amusement. "In front of everyone?"

Penelope nodded. "In front of everyone," she confirmed. "And he didn't even care. And he never cared any day after that. He kept calling me that, and we started dating a month later." She turned her face sideways to look at her daughter. Her face was stained with tears, and she pushed a strand of her hair out of her eyes. She touched Elia's cheek. "Four years later…we had you." Despite her tears, she smiled.

Elia, too, smiled. She leaned her head against Penelope's arm, and rested there. Penelope kissed the top of her daughter's head.

They sat together in the slaughterhouse, staying close for warmth. Elia wanted to hear stories about Penelope and Derek's life together, and Penelope told her everything she could think of. Whispering the stories did her some good; she hadn't dwelled on these stories in so long that letting them roll off her tongue provided her a feeling she didn't think she would ever have again: happiness.

"He had already waived them, so your Uncle Spencer and I went through that whole afternoon for nothing," Penelope giggled, remembering the day her husband forced her and Reid through an unnecessary workout. It was the year before Elia was born, and Reid was brand new to the BAU. She'd been pissed, but after they'd gotten home, Derek and she had had fantastic makeup sex. She didn't mention that detail to Elia, but it certainly popped up in her head.

"That jerk," Elia laughed. She sighed wistfully. "He had a sense of humor, though?"

Penelope nodded. "A great one," she murmured.

"He never laughs now," her daughter responded. "He pretends to, but you can tell it's fake." It wasn't easy, but Penelope attempted to imagine Derek like that, the sparkle gone from his eyes and his voice hollow. She could barely see it. Before she could say more, Elia added, "He won't have to pretend anymore, though."

Frowning, Penelope looked in Elia's eyes, the ones identical to her own. "What do you mean?"

"He's getting you back." Elia's amber gaze was unyielding.

Wiping her runny nose, Penelope smiled with trembling lips. She opened her mouth to say more, but before she could say anything else, a rattling sounded from across the cage. Her gaze shot upwards, and her blood ran cold at the sight of Brutus, Fynn, and worst of all, Lilith. She stood with her arms crossed, a devilish smile gracing her blood-red lips. Ignoring the pain in her arms, Penelope tightened her hold on Elia.

"Hello, ladies," Lilith purred as Brutus opened the cage. "Getting to know one another, I see."

Frantically, Penelope crawled forward on the concrete and pushed herself to her feet, positioning herself in front of Elia. "Stay away from her!" she snapped, standing in front of Brutus, Fynn, and Lilith defiantly. Brutus' face remained its usual stoic expression, but Fynn grinned wolfishly, his face showing he was ready to torment.

"Mom," Elia whispered, her hand touching her shoulder. She'd risen to stand beside her.

"Mommy's little clone gave away her sweater," Fynn noted in a snarl, cocking his head to the side. "How sweet." He stepped closer to Elia, so close he was able to sniff her hair. "It's too bad she's a virgin…I would have loved to get a piece of _this._" Elia's eyes went wide, and she looked ready to shrink backwards into the corner of the cage.

Bristling, Penelope moved to stand in front of Elia. She glared at Fynn. "You're not touching her," she hissed. "_At all_."

Fynn chuckled and looked away briefly. Quick as a flash of lightning, though, his arm shot forward, and he backhanded her.

"Mom!" Elia gasped as Penelope fell backwards into her arms. Stars briefly filled Penelope's vision, but she forced them away to stand back in front of Fynn. Her daughter tried to hold her back, but she pulled out of her grasp, keeping her body in front of her.

"Ooh, kitty's getting back on her feet awfully fast," Fynn laughed.

Lilith rolled her eyes and went forward to slap Fynn's arm. "Enough." She crossed her arms and glared at her henchman. "You can play with Penelope later. Right now, we have a job to do."

Her eyes flicked to Elia, and Penelope felt her blood run cold. No! This was too soon. Veronica had been here for three days before Lilith took her and she was never seen again. Was she out of time to plan her daughter's escape?

She grasped Elia's hand and shook her head desperately at Lilith. "Leave her alone," she croaked. "I'm begging you, Lilith. Don't do this to my baby!" Tears streamed down her face. "I'll do whatever you want. I'll _stop_ fighting, I'll fight _more_. Whatever you want!"

"Oh, my dear darling Penelope," Lilith purred. "Nothing you do will keep me from your daughter. She's far too valuable. Your bonding is touching to me, and the fact your husband has _clearly_ remained miserable and told your _baby _who her mother is oh so romantic." Her eyes flashed. "But your happiness doesn't matter to me. Your beloved _Derek's _misery will amuse me more than anything; Elia belongs to me now."

Penelope's boiling rage reached its maximum level, and without thinking, she lunged forward toward Lilith. Her nails raked across her left eye. The soft flesh of the woman's flawless face split as Penelope's nails came away with skin beneath them. Lilith screeched, but it wasn't one of pain; the scream was full of rage. When Brutus shoved Penelope backwards, she was able to observe her handiwork. A grin of satisfaction lit up her face as she stared at the marred flesh of Lilith's once perfect face. A demonic look covering her face, Lilith clutched her eye with one hand and pointed to Elia. Penelope stepped in front of her daughter, trying to protect her. She knew it wouldn't work - Brutus and Fyn would easily toss her aside - but her defensive instincts were kicking in.

"You bitch!" she hissed. "You just made this worse for your precious _baby_!" She threw her glance to Brutus. "Take the girl!"

"No!" Penelope cried, holding both her arms out. Like she predicted, Brutus shoved her aside and grabbed Elia. Her daughter made no sound as she was dragged out of the cage and into the hallway. Fynn remained behind, grabbing Penelope from behind and locking her arms behind her back. He thrust her forward to the side of the cage that looked into Sally's, and her face was squished against the chainlink. Sally was huddled in the farthest corner she could possibly put herself, shaking with fear.

Fynn leaned in to Penelope's ear and hissed, "You little girl is going to get a lesson in how we work...and you're going to watch helplessly. You can't save her from this."

Penelope squirmed in his grasp as Elia was taken into Sally's cage by Brutus. Her bruised face ached as it was shoved into the chainlink, and she watched in horror as Lilith shot forward to Sally's corner. Grabbing her by the hair, she yanked the young woman upwards by the scalp. Sally yelped in fright, tears streaming down her face as she whimpered. Lilith dragged her frightened captive to stand in front of Elia. Elia's eyes were wide as she struggled soundlessly in Brutus' grasp.

From the pocket of her dress, Lilith brandished a razor sharp blade. A flash of the overhead fluorescent light danced across the blade and a scream escaped Penelope's mouth. Who was the knife meant for? Lilith's eyes shot to Penelope. A lethal glint entered her eyes, and a wicked smile covered her face. Penelope could swear her teeth looked like fangs from the angle she was seeing her from.

"The cold hard truth of what is going to happen to your daughter is coming soon," Lilith screeched maniacally.

"No!" Penelope wept as Lilith raised the knife to strike.


End file.
